Europe 1 with AFP 7:50 a.m., January 20, 2024
Seoul's police chief has been charged with professional negligence for the deadly stampede on Halloween that left nearly 160 dead in the center of the city in 2022, the prosecutor's office in the South Korean capital announced on Friday.
Seoul's police chief has been charged with professional negligence for the deadly stampede on Halloween that left nearly 160 dead in the center of the city in 2022, the prosecutor's office in the South Korean capital announced on Friday.
Kim Kwang-ho, the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was charged with professional negligence resulting in injury or death, the capital's Western District Prosecutors' Office said in a statement.
On the evening of Saturday, October 29, 2022, tens of thousands of people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, were out enjoying the post-pandemic celebrations in Itaewon, a cosmopolitan neighborhood in Seoul.
The evening turned tragic when a crowd of revelers found themselves trapped in a sloping bottleneck between lanes of bars and nightclubs.
More than 150 people died in the stampede.
>> READ ALSO -
Crowd movement in Seoul: why did the situation degenerate?
Government mismanagement
Kim Kwang-ho "failed to take necessary measures, such as deploying sufficient police forces and ensuring proper command and supervision" on the day of the disaster, although he was able to "foresee the potential dangers arising" from the presence of too large a number of people, explains the press release from the prosecution.
Kim Kwang-ho, the highest-ranking police official facing justice for the tragedy, was charged without detention.
In January 2023, he and 22 other officials from the police, emergency services and district offices were referred to the prosecution by a special police investigation for their alleged role in government mismanagement of this tragedy.
Prosecutors indicted the police chiefs of Yongsan district, which includes the Itaewon neighborhood, and the district city hall, but had not made a decision for more than a year regarding Kim Kwang-ho.
“Chief Kim must step down immediately,” families call
The latter "along with the Yongsan police chief and the director of Yongsan City Hall, who are currently on trial, collectively caused the deaths of 158 individuals and the injuries of 312 individuals due to professional negligence."
The victims' families said they regretted the long delay before the decision to charge Kim Kwang-ho.
“Chief Kim must immediately step down and be brought to justice,” the families called in a statement.
"President Yoon Suk Yeol must fire Kim immediately".