China News Agency, Seoul, January 13th (Liu Xu Wanjiaxin) The Special Investigation Headquarters of the Itaewon Accident of the Korean National Police Agency announced the results of the investigation of the Itaewon Stampede accident on the 13th local time, and handed over 23 civil servants involved in the case to the prosecution. 6 people were arrested.
The South Korean police established a special investigation headquarters consisting of 501 people on November 1 last year. In the following 74 days, they investigated the civil servants of the Yongsan District Government, the Yongsan Police Agency, the Seoul Police Agency, and the Yongsan Fire Department. A total of 23 people involved in the case, including Park Hee-young, director of the Mountain District Office, and Lee Im-jae, the former Yongsan police chief, were transferred to the prosecution on the grounds of official negligent death, and 6 of them were arrested.
The Special Investigation Headquarters believes that the accident occurred because the local government, police, fire department and other institutions responsible for disaster prevention did not formulate safety countermeasures in advance, and the relevant institutions did not comply with relevant laws and guidelines after the incident. Carry out search and rescue work.
As a result, four officials from the Yongsan District Government and the Police Agency who were suspected of failing to prevent and deal with the incident before and after the incident, and two officials from the Intelligence Department of the Police Agency who were suspected of deleting the Halloween accident risk report were arrested and transferred to the prosecution. The remaining 17 people were also sent for inspection, but were not arrested.
In addition, the Investigation Headquarters handed over the embezzlement case of the representative of the Itaewon Hamilton Hotel, which was suspected of illegal expansion, and the official documents related to the operation of the Central Emergency Control Team, which were allegedly falsely reported by fire department officials, to the serious crime team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for investigation.
On the evening of October 29, 2022, a stampede occurred in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea.
A total of 158 people were killed and 196 injured in the accident.
Since then, in December last year, one accident survivor chose to commit suicide due to psychological trauma, and the final death toll was 159.
After the accident, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yue expressed deep apology to the bereaved families of the tragedy and to the people who shared the grief and pain.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo also publicly apologized to the citizens and foreign victims of the stampede, and promised to improve relevant systems to prevent similar accidents from happening again.
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