Prosecutors in South Korea have indicted the top of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Company, charging him with contributing by negligence to the Halloween crowd crush in Seoul in 2022 that killed practically 160 folks, officers mentioned.
The police chief charged on Friday, Kim Kwang-ho, is among the most senior authorities officers to face legal prices stemming from the episode, one of many worst peacetime disasters in South Korea’s historical past. The top of Yongsan District, the world 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. Lots of squeezed right into a slim and sloping alleyway from each ends, making a suffocating squeeze within the center.
Few law enforcement officials had been available to manage the group, despite the fact that the authorities had been warned prematurely of the chance of an unusually giant gathering and the potential for issues. As the group crush was taking place, 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 12 months, led by the Nationwide Police Company, left survivors and kinfolk of victims unhappy and indignant. The central authorities mentioned that it didn’t have accountability for public security in Itaewon that evening 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 principally middle-ranking police and different officers had been indicted on legal negligence and related prices final 12 months, whereas prime authorities officers, like the house minister, had been cleared of wrongdoing.
Early final 12 months, when the police company concluded its investigation, it requested prosecutors to indict Mr. Kim on prices related to failure to take precautionary measures, equivalent to assigning crowd management officers, and to bungling the emergency response. However the prosecutors didn’t act till Friday. Two different law enforcement officials 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 might resist 5 years in jail or a wonderful of as much as $15,000. Authorities officers indicted on legal prices are additionally suspended from their jobs pending the 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 come back clear on its shortcomings and fireplace prime security officers over the Itaewon catastrophe.
“President Yoon should dismiss the Seoul police chief instantly,” they mentioned in a press release. “The indictment of the extra folks should 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 didn’t unveil the entire reality about official negligence.
Mr. Yoon’s celebration has requested him to veto the invoice, calling it politically motivated. He has not mentioned if he’ll.
