Prosecutors in South Korea have indicted the pinnacle of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Company, charging him with contributing via negligence to the Halloween crowd crush in Seoul in 2022 that killed practically 160 folks, officers stated.
The police chief charged on Friday, Kim Kwang-ho, is among the most senior authorities officers to face prison prices stemming from the episode, one of many worst peacetime disasters in South Korea’s historical past. The pinnacle of Yongsan District, the realm of Seoul the place the lethal occasion occurred, was already dealing with related prices.
On Oct. 29, 2022, 1000’s of younger folks packed into Itaewon, a well-liked nightlife neighborhood in central Seoul, to benefit from the first restriction-free Halloween weekend because the pandemic. A whole lot squeezed right into a slim and sloping alleyway from each ends, making a suffocating squeeze within the center.
Few cops had been available to manage the gang, though the authorities had been warned prematurely of the probability of an unusually massive gathering and the potential for issues. As the gang crush was occurring, caller after panicked caller from the scene rang police and fire-department hotlines to explain crowds, chaos and hazard. However assist was gradual to reach.
A authorities investigation final yr, led by the Nationwide Police Company, left survivors and relations of victims unhappy and indignant. The central authorities stated that it didn’t have duty for public security in Itaewon that night time as a result of the Halloween festivities had not been formally organized, a response that drew scorn and mock from many South Koreans. Solely a handful of largely middle-ranking police and different officers had been indicted on prison negligence and related prices final yr, whereas prime authorities officers, like the house minister, had been cleared of wrongdoing.
Early final yr, when the police company concluded its investigation, it requested prosecutors to indict Mr. Kim on prices related to failure to take precautionary measures, comparable to assigning crowd management officers, and to bungling the emergency response. However the prosecutors didn’t act till Friday. Two different cops had been additionally indicted on Friday, bringing the full variety of folks to face trial in reference to the Itaewon catastrophe to 21.
If Mr. Kim is convicted, he may resist 5 years in jail or a high quality of as much as $15,000. Authorities officers indicted on prison prices are additionally suspended from their jobs pending the end result of their trial.
Victims’ households welcomed what they known as Mr. Kim’s “belated” indictment. They’ve lengthy accused the federal government of President Yoon Suk Yeol of refusing to return clear on its shortcomings and hearth prime security officers over the Itaewon catastrophe.
“President Yoon should dismiss the Seoul police chief instantly,” they stated in an announcement. “The indictment of the extra folks have to be a primary step towards a correct punishment of these accountable for the Itaewon catastrophe.”
This month, legislators within the Nationwide Meeting, which is dominated by events in opposition to President Yoon’s, handed a invoice that will appoint a particular prosecutor to start an impartial investigation into the catastrophe, saying that the one by the Nationwide Police Company did not unveil the entire fact about official negligence.
Mr. Yoon’s occasion has requested him to veto the invoice, calling it politically motivated. He has not stated if he’ll.
