Yongsan Police Station Reported Dangers of a Crowd in Itaewon to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Early October, “Many Related Reports”

The special investigation headquarters at the National Police Agency investigating the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon conducted a search and seizure of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the Yongsan Police Station, and the Yongsan-gu Office on November 2. Police officials enter the Yongsan Police Station, Seoul. Kim Chang-gil

On November 6, it was confirmed that the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul had reported to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency that they “expected a large crowd to gather in Itaewon for Halloween” in early October. This has triggered criticism that the police not only failed to properly respond to 112 calls of a possible crowd crush and to assign additional mobile police units on the day of the tragic event, but that they also failed to utilize “intelligence,” despite receiving information from the frontline police. Voices argue that the police should also be held responsible for such failures.

According to the coverage by the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the Department of Intelligence on Public Safety and Security and Foreign Affairs at the Yongsan Police Station drew up an intelligence report predicting a large crowd in Itaewon for Halloween and uploaded the report on the police intranet in early October. The report was sent to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency from the Yongsan Police Station, but was not properly used to prepare for possible accidents threatening the lives of the citizens.

It was disclosed earlier that the Yongsan intelligence department had posted a report on possible safety accidents due to larger-than-expected crowds on the police intranet on October 26, three days before the tragic incident. However, it appears the frontline police had warned of a large crowd gathering nearly a month earlier. An official from the Yongsan Police Station said, “We cannot disclose the specific details (on the number of reports to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in connection with the crowd in Itaewon),” but added, “There were more than two.” The official explained that these reports did not include recommendations to dispatch the riot police.

Despite that there had been several reports on portents of a crowd-dense accident inside the police, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency did not assign additional units to Itaewon. At present, the multiple documents drawn up by the intelligence department at Yongsan Police Station have been discarded online. According to the regulation on the collection and handling of intelligence by police officers, an intelligence report can be quickly discarded when the objective of the information collected and prepared has been obtained, making the intelligence no longer necessary.

Some people have raised allegations that the police may have intentionally deleted the information to conceal the fact that there were internal reports about possible problems when the sluggish police response on October 29 came under fire.There was also an accusation that a senior official in the intelligence department tried to appease an intelligence officer who drew up a report after the incident. The special investigation headquarters in the National Police Agency is investigating to see if there were any attempts to destroy evidence to escape the responsibility for ignoring safety-related reports by intelligence officers on the front.

The representative of the Yongsan Police Station said, “The reports on the intranet were deleted because the designated period had passed, but we submitted all the reports remaining online to the special inspection team (in the National Police Agency).” The intelligence department at the Yongsan Police Station said, “We will faithfully cooperate with the inspection and investigation by the special inspection team.”