Lawmakers strongly chide police officials over Itaewon tragedy during first hearing

Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties strongly chided senior police officials over the Itaewon crowd crush Wednesday as a special parliamentary committee investigating the tragedy held its first hearing.

The committee summoned National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) chief Kim Kwang-ho, former Yongsan Police Station chief Lee Im-jae, Yongsan Fire Station chief Choi Seong-beom and others as witnesses for the first hearing.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) focused its attack on the Yongsan Police Station chief.

“The authorities failed to predict overcrowding, the reporting system was not swift enough, and rescue efforts were not properly made on site,” Rep. Jun Joo-hyae said. “The fault lays with many people, but if we have to pick one, it would be Lee Im-jae who was the chief of the Yongsan Police Station at the time.”

Rep. Cho Su-jin pointed out that it took an hour for Lee to arrive at the scene because he took a car to get there, though it would have taken only 10 minutes if he had walked, claiming that casualties grew because no measures were taken during the wasted time.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) focused on criticizing the general police response.

“People’s safety was not the priority for the police,” Rep. Cheon Jun-ho said, claiming that police were more focused on cracking down on drug crimes.

One of the main issues in the hearing was whether the Yongsan Police Station asked the SMPA to dispatch a police squad for crowd control.

Lee, the former Yongsan police chief, claimed he ordered such a request to be made, but the SMPA turned it down. SMPA chief Kim, however, claimed he did not receive such a request.

“The SMPA did not receive a request for a police squad other than one for traffic control,” Kim said.

Lee insisted there was a lot of evidence that he ordered the request to be made.

For the second hearing Friday, the committee summoned government officials, including Interior Minister Lee Sang-min and Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, as well as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Yongsan Ward office chief Park Hee-young.

The 45-day investigation into the tragedy is scheduled to finish Saturday, but the rival parties were in discussion to extend the probe amid criticism a proper probe was delayed while the National Assembly dealt with the state budget plan for 2023 first.

The DP called for extending the probe by at least 10 days and holding additional hearings, but the PPP has yet to accept the proposal.