Investigation of Police's First Major Disaster After Geomsu Wanbak... Upper-Level Probe Ends in Futility

At Inception, Pledged "Unrestricted Investigation"
Could Not Extend to Ministry of the Interior and Safety or Seoul City, Ended
Prosecutors Form Investigation Team to Begin Supplementary Probe

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] There are criticisms that the police have shown limitations by failing to advance to the 'higher-ups' in the Itaewon disaster investigation, which was meant to demonstrate investigative capabilities after the complete removal of prosecutorial investigation rights (Geomsu Wanbak).

The Special Investigation Headquarters (Special HQ) of the National Police Agency, which investigated the Itaewon disaster, was launched on November 1 last year. It investigated 538 people related to the incident, referring 23 people to prosecution and detaining 6. The number of people referred by institution includes 8 from the police, 3 from Yongsan District Office, 2 from the fire department, and 2 from Seoul Metro. The remaining 2 are the CEO of Hamilton Tour and the owner of bar A. Among them, 4 police officers including former Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae and 2 public officials from Yongsan District Office including Park Hee-young were detained.

Compared to the large-scale investigation conducted over about 70 days with 514 personnel including 139 investigators after forming the Special HQ, the investigation results fell short of expectations. In particular, after the detention warrant for former Chief Lee was rejected once, a lot of time was spent on supplementary investigations, and there is strong criticism that the investigation failed to reach the higher-ups.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 13th, the Special HQ announced the investigation results and concluded the investigation without indicting suspects from higher institutions such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and the National Police Agency. The Special HQ concluded that it was difficult to see specific violations of duty of care related to the Itaewon disaster by these institutions. Based on this judgment, the so-called higher-ups including Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, and National Police Chief Yoon Hee-geun were not touched.

The Itaewon disaster was the first case after the enforcement of the Geomsu Wanbak law in which the police held the investigation key. Until early August last year, 'major disasters' were among the six major crimes under the prosecutor's investigation scope, but due to the Geomsu Wanbak legislation, prosecutors could no longer initiate investigations. Accordingly, unlike the Seohae ferry sinking (1993), Seongsu Bridge collapse (1994), Sampoong Department Store collapse (1995), and Sewol ferry disaster (2014), the police took the lead in investigating the Itaewon disaster.

At its inception, the Special HQ declared it would conduct an "investigation without sanctuary." However, as it was effectively concluded without reaching the higher-ups, it could not escape criticism such as 'scapegoating' and 'a head but no tail.' Some argue that considering it takes some time to settle after Geomsu Wanbak, there were partial achievements, but the prevailing assessment is that the police still lack the capability to lead investigations of major disasters.

With the Special HQ completing all investigations, the ball has now moved to the prosecution. Last year, the so-called 'restoration of prosecutorial investigation rights' enforcement decree was amended, lifting restrictions on the prosecution's investigation scope for referred cases. The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office has newly formed an investigation team centered on Deputy Chief Prosecutor Byun Pil-geon and has started supplementary investigations. On the 11th, they simultaneously conducted raids on 10 locations including the National Police Agency and Yongsan District Office. Attention is focused on how far the prosecution's investigation will extend in the future.