On April 23, prosecutors requested a prison sentence for Sungmin Park, former Chief of Public Safety, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (Senior Superintendent), who was additionally indicted on charges of instructing police staff to delete documents related to Halloween preparations immediately after the Itaewon disaster.
Sungmin Park, Former Chief of Intelligence Division at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency / Photo by Yonhap News.
During the sentencing hearing held that day at the Seoul Western District Court under Judge Hong Dasun, prosecutors asked for a one-year prison term for Park. Prosecutors stated, "The defendant had a duty to cooperate with the investigation and audit by preserving or actively disclosing and submitting existing materials. However, the defendant instructed the Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division to delete information reports related to the Itaewon Halloween event, and gave the same order to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Intelligence Division, betraying the public's expectation for truth-finding and accountability."
Park's side maintained their previous claim that he did not order the deletion of the reports. Park's attorney stated, "The defendant instructed staff to manage security and documents properly, and to dispose of unnecessary documents or those whose purpose had been achieved according to regulations. It is difficult to understand how an order to manage documents in accordance with the law could be considered as incitement to damage public electronic records or destroy evidence."
Park said, "I regret that I was narrowly focused on my assigned duties and regulations, without sufficiently considering public sentiment or the need for truth-finding at the time." He added, "However, please take into account that I did not specifically instruct the deletion of the particular report in question."
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