"20 Staff Members Could Not Handle Crowd of 100,000"
Riot Police, Not a Single Unit Deployed in Itaewon
[Asia Economy Reporters Jang Se-hee and Gong Byung-sun] The Yongsan Police Station, which has jurisdiction over the Itaewon disaster area, reportedly requested riot police support from its higher authority, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, in preparation for the large crowds expected on Halloween, but the request was ignored.
On the 2nd, Officer A, who works at the Itaewon Police Substation, stated via the police internal network Polnet, "About two weeks before the Halloween weekend, we requested riot police support to maintain order at the Itaewon Global Village Festival event site, but the higher-ups rejected it. Even on Halloween, due to safety concerns, Yongsan Police Station requested riot police support from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, but as far as I know, no support was provided," he said.
In fact, on the day of the Itaewon crush disaster, about 4,800 riot police officers from 81 units were deployed across downtown Seoul, but not a single unit was dispatched to Itaewon.
This directly contradicts the National Police Agency's statement the day before, which disclosed the 112 emergency call records from that day and admitted that the on-site response was insufficient. Police Chief Yoon Hee-geun said, "There were many 112 calls just before the accident that alerted us to the seriousness of the situation on site," and added, "We judged that the on-site response to handle those calls was inadequate."
Regarding the fact that only 4 out of 11 112 calls resulted in dispatch, he explained, "We advised callers not to enter the crowd and to go home," and added, "Yongsan traffic officers were controlling crowds at various locations on site, and substation officers repeatedly requested citizens to disperse even while responding to other calls." He also explained that with only 20 officers, it was impossible to manage a crowd of 100,000 while handling other reports.
He also mentioned that the chaotic atmosphere on site made control itself difficult. Officer A added, "When we tried to move citizens on site, we were met with comments like 'Are you police cosplay?' and many citizens ignored the control efforts."
The post received about 300 supportive comments. Police officers expressed sentiments such as "I can clearly see how much you must have struggled," "Thank you for your hard work, and I will continue to support you from afar," and "I hope the on-site staff finish safely without injury."
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