Even in the human resource conclusion of “overlapping faults of institutions”
Lee Sang-min, Oh Se-hoon, and Yoon Hee-geun are indulged
538 people investigated for 74 days, 6 people arrested and sent
The Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Edition) of the National Police Agency, which has been investigating the cause of the “Itaewon Halloween Disaster” that took the lives of 159 people and the government’s poor response, concluded its 74-day activities by announcing the results of its investigation on the 13th. The special edition, which was launched on November 1 of last year, three days following the disaster, concluded that this disaster was caused by the irresponsible response of the organizations responsible. Despite this conclusion, the investigation was terminated without a single summons for investigation into the heads of major institutions that should have prevented the disaster or dealt with it following it occurred. Although six people, including the former chief of the Yongsan Police Station and the head of Yongsan-gu, were arrested, criticism is raised that they gave “indulgence” to the Minister of Public Administration and Security, the Mayor of Seoul, and the Commissioner of Police, who are beyond “Yongsan.”
In a briefing on the results of the investigation held at the special headquarters in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 13th, head of the Special Investigation Headquarters Sohn Je-han said, “Even though organizations with the duty to prevent and respond to disasters and safety under the law, such as the police, local governments, and firefighting, were able to predict safety accidents, they took precautionary safety measures. “We did not take appropriate measures even following receiving a report in a crowded situation. caused casualties,” he said.
Regarding the direct cause of the accident in which 159 people died and 196 people were injured, the special edition said, “In a narrow and steep alley with a width of regarding 3m, crowds piled up and got stuck in layers for 10m.” This happened,” he explained. At Itaewon Station, 8,068 people, regarding four times more than the number of people on board (2,129), got off for an hour from 5:00 pm on the day of the disaster.
The special edition invested 500 people to secure regarding 140,000 confiscated items and investigated 538 people involved in the case. 24 people (6 arrested, 1 dead), including police, district office, firefighting, and traffic officials, were booked and 23 were sent to the prosecution. Six people, including former Yongsan Police Station chief Lee Im-jae and Yongsan-gu chief Park Hee-young, were arrested and sent, while 17 people, including Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Kim Gwang-ho and Yongsan fire station chief Choi Seong-beom, were handed over to the prosecution without detention.
It seems difficult to avoid the criticism that the investigation of the special edition, which took 74 days of activity as a margin, is ‘Yong-du-sami’. Even following concluding that the disaster occurred due to the fault of institutions responsible for disaster safety prevention and response, the heads of ministries or higher-level institutions were not even included in the investigation.
