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The arrest warrant for former Yongsan Police Station chief Lee Im-jae, one of the general managers of the Itaewon disaster site, has been dismissed.

Two other police officers involved in the suspicion of deleting the information report were arrested, but the investigation of the special edition, which was heading to the top, was put on hold.



This is Reporter Sohn Ki-jun.



<Reporter> Lee



Im-jae, former chief of Yongsan Police Station, who has been considered a key suspect in the Itaewon disaster, escaped arrest.



An arrest warrant was requested for former chief Lee on charges of increasing human casualties by not taking precautionary measures despite a report on safety measures that required more experience during Halloween and not taking appropriate relief measures even after recognizing the disaster.



However, the court dismissed the arrest warrant for Lee and the former head of the 112 Situation Office at Yongsan Police Station, citing the difficulty in acknowledging the reason and validity of the arrest and the need to guarantee the right to defense.



After coming out of the detention center, the former chief was silent.



[Lee Im-jae/Former Yongsan Police Station Chief: We will work as diligently as possible to find out the cause of the accident or the truth.

(May I ask what part did you mainly explain during the screening?) I told you everything truthfully.]



Park Seong-min, former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's public safety information department and former information manager at Yongsan Police Station, who was involved in the suspicion of deleting a report containing safety concerns, said: imprisoned.



Half of the four police officers who applied for arrest warrants in the special version were arrested, but they failed to secure new recruits for the officers in charge of public security.



After securing the former Chief Lee's recruits, the plan of the special edition to apply for arrest warrants against Yongsan-gu Office Chief Park Hee-young and Yongsan Fire Station Chief Choi Seong-beom, who are accused of the same, and to start a full-scale investigation was also shaken.



It seems that the special edition will consider re-application for an arrest warrant as soon as the reasons for dismissing the warrant are analyzed.