Former Seoul Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae, who is accused of perjury in the Itaewon disaster parliamentary investigation, has filed a bail request with the court.
On the 20th, Lee's legal team submitted a bail application to the Criminal Division 11 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Bae Seong-jung), which is handling the Itaewon disaster case.
Lee was arrested and indicted on January 18 on charges of professional negligence resulting in death and injury for failing to establish accident prevention measures despite anticipating large crowds in the Itaewon area on Halloween, and for not taking timely actions such as deploying the security task force and controlling roads despite receiving 112 emergency calls and radio communications, which exacerbated the casualties.
Former Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae responding to a lawmaker's question at the '1st Hearing of the Special Committee on the Itaewon Disaster National Investigation' held at the National Assembly on January 4 [Photo by Yonhap News]
He is also accused of instructing false entries regarding the time of arrival at the scene and police rescue activities in the situation report to cover up his inadequate response (charges of falsifying and using false official documents).
Lee is the fifth defendant in the Itaewon disaster case to request bail after being detained and tried. Among them, Park Hee-young, Mayor of Seoul Yongsan District, and Choi Won-jun, former head of Yongsan District Safety and Disaster Division, were released on bail on the 7th. Former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division Chief Park Sung-min and former Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division Chief Kim Jin-ho underwent bail hearings on the 14th and are awaiting the results.
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