The Special Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency, which is investigating the Itaewon disaster, decided to reapply for an arrest warrant for former Yongsan Police Station chief Lee Im-jae.
An official from the Special Investigation Division announced today (7th) that they plan to re-apply for arrest warrants as soon as the reinforcement investigation of Lee and Song Byeong-joo, former head of the Yongsan Police Station 112 Situation Office, is completed.
On the 1st, the special version applied for arrest warrants for two people on charges of manslaughter on the job, but on the 5th, the court said, "It is difficult to recognize the reason and reasonableness of the arrest for the fear of destroying evidence and fleeing. It was rejected because it was necessary.”
However, considering the seriousness of the case in which 158 deaths occurred, the special edition believes that arrest is inevitable and plans to reorganize the legal composition of the charges of manslaughter on the job and consider whether to apply additional charges of other crimes.
In particular, former chief Lee is also under investigation for manipulating the situation report right after the disaster.
Former chief Lee arrived at the Itaewon police box at 11:05 pm on the day of the disaster, but the situation report at Yongsan Police Station stated that he arrived at the scene immediately after the disaster.
The special edition plans to summon the employee who first wrote the report and ask if there was an order from the former chief.
If it is confirmed that this situation report was at least reviewed by former chief Lee, the special edition's idea is that charges of making false public documents can also be applied.
In addition to these, the special edition is in the position that arrest investigations are also needed for Yongsan Fire Station Chief Choi Seong-beom and Yongsan-gu District Office Chief Park Hee-young.
Initially, the special edition tried to apply for an arrest warrant for them on charges of manslaughter on the job, but as the warrants of former chief Lee and others were dismissed, the legal principles are being reviewed.
In addition, Superintendent Ryu Mi-jin, who worked as a situation manager at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the day of the disaster, will be investigated as a suspect at 2 p.m. today.
For the third time following the 18th and 25th of last month, Superintendent Liu is accused of neglecting his duty to oversee the situation, such as working in his office instead of the 112 Security General Situation Room, where he worked at the time of the disaster.
In the special version, the head of the 112 Situation Team 3 of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, who worked with Superintendent Ryu at the time, was also booked on charges of manslaughter by negligence on the job.
In addition, on this day, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Yongsan City employees are called in as references for investigation.