Verification and On-site Inspection Conducted During Records Evaluation
The National Archives of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has decided to prohibit the disposal of records related to the investigation of Chae Sang-byeong and the Itaewon disaster and has notified this decision.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 13th, the National Archives announced in the official gazette and on its website the decision to prohibit the disposal of records related to the two cases requested respectively by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA) and the "Special Investigation Committee for the Truth-finding and Prevention of Recurrence of the Itaewon Disaster (Itaewon Special Committee)".
The National Archives judged that these requests for disposal prohibition meet the requirements under Article 27-3 of the Public Records Management Act and Article 54-2 of the Enforcement Decree of the same Act. After the disposal prohibition notice, when evaluating records of the relevant institutions, the list will be submitted in advance to verify whether the target records are included, and on-site inspections will also be conducted.
The HCIA, which was in charge of investigating the death case of Chae Sang-byeong that occurred on July 19 last year, requested the prohibition of disposal citing the necessity to preserve related records held by the investigation target institutions for the purpose of clarifying the facts of the case.
The target institutions include the Presidential Secretariat, National Security Office, Ministry of National Defense, Defense Counterintelligence Command, Navy Marine Corps Command, National Police Agency, and Gyeongsangbuk-do Police Agency, totaling seven. Records related to the investigation and inquiry of the case, related orders, and non-compliance with orders are prohibited from disposal for up to five years from the date of the disposal prohibition announcement.
The Itaewon Special Committee also requested the prohibition of disposal, fearing that the disposal of records related to the Itaewon disaster that occurred in 2022 would hinder the truth investigation. The target institutions include the Presidential Secretariat, National Security Office, Office for Government Policy Coordination, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Supreme Prosecutors' Office, National Police Agency, National Fire Agency, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yongsan District Office of Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and Seoul Metro, totaling thirteen. Related records generated from five years before the date of the disaster occurrence to the end of the Special Committee’s activities must be preserved.
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