Prosecutors Order Deletion of 'Halloween Report'... Additional Indictments in Information Line

Investigation Also Underway for Negligent Homicide Charge

Former Park Sung-min, Head of Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. / Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Park Seong-min (56), former head of the Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and Kim Jin-ho (52), former head of the Intelligence Division at Yongsan Police Station, who were indicted on suspicion of deleting the 'Halloween Risk Analysis Report,' are now facing trial for involvement in the deletion of another intelligence report.

On the morning of the 8th, Judge Kang Seong-su of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Western District Court held the first pretrial hearing for former head Park and former chief Kim. They were arrested and indicted on charges of instructing the deletion of a report produced by the Yongsan Police Station intelligence officer from a work PC on November 2 last year, shortly after the Itaewon tragedy (charges of obstruction of evidence and damage to public electronic records).

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office additionally indicted them on the same day, applying charges of instructing the deletion of three reports related to the Itaewon Halloween festival (obstruction of evidence, etc.). The deleted reports included 'Safety Management Status and Accident Risk Factors of Autumn Festival Events,' 'Halloween Day, On- and Offline Policing Burden Factors,' and 'Halloween, Concerns over Illegal Risks such as Party Attendance in Police Uniforms.'

The Police Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Unit) confirmed circumstances that these reports were produced by the Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division and deleted after the tragedy. However, suspicions related to the deletion of these documents, excluding the so-called risk analysis report, were not included in the charges against former head Park and former chief Kim.

During the trial on the same day, the prosecution revealed that Kim Jin-ho is also under investigation for professional negligence causing death and injury. Judge Kang decided to hold another pretrial hearing at 11:10 a.m. on the 3rd of next month. In Kim’s case, if the charge of professional negligence causing death and injury is added, the trial may be transferred to the criminal division panel.