On the day of the Itaewon disaster, Yoon Hee-geun, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, admitted to the suspicion that he had been drinking alcohol after visiting Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province.
At the first hearing of the 'Special Committee for State Affairs Investigation into the Itaewon Disaster' held at the National Assembly today (4th), Commissioner Yoon replied, "I (already) told you that I drank" to Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon's question whether he had been drinking on the day of the disaster.
In the meantime, whenever suspicion of drinking was raised on the day of the disaster, Commissioner Yoon indirectly acknowledged it without giving any explanation, but this is the first time he has clearly admitted to drinking.
According to the police, on Saturday, October 29 last year, the day of the disaster, Commissioner Yoon climbed Woraksan Mountain with his acquaintances on holiday and slept at a nearby campsite around 11:00 pm.
Even after 45 minutes of the disaster, it was confirmed that Commissioner Yoon fell asleep without any action, raising suspicions that he was not aware of the disaster because he was drunk and sleeping.
Although the fact that drinking on a holiday itself is not an illegal act, it was pointed out that the chief police officer drank irresponsibly in a situation where various rallies were scheduled in Seoul on the day and a large crowd was expected to gather related to the Halloween festival. .
It was confirmed that Commissioner Yoon missed the report of the disaster by the National Police Agency's situation officer at 11:32 and 52 pm while he went to bed after drinking.
Afterwards, he only became aware of the disaster for the first time when he received a call from the situation officer at 0:14 on the 30th, the second day after the disaster occurred.
However, Commissioner Yoon maintained that he was not at fault in relation to his drinking.
He did not hide his discomfort at the question of Congressman Cho, who questioned whether he had drunk or not, saying, "I can drink on weekend evenings. Should I reveal that?"
Commissioner Yoon also admitted to the suspicion that he had not separately entered the fact that he had left Seoul, where the National Police Agency was located, on the day of the disaster and went out of the city into the police internal system.
Commissioner Yoon explained, "The National Police Agency's jurisdiction is nationwide, not Seoul, and the day of the disaster was a Saturday holiday, so there was no need to enter the fact that he was out of the jurisdiction into the system."
(Photo = Yonhap News)