Prosecutors recommend 7-year prison term for Yongsan chief over Itaewon crowd crush

Prosecutors recommended that the former head of the Yongsan District Office, Park Hee-young, get seven years in prison for her role in the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush.

Former chief of the Yongsan District Office Park Hee-young, left, walks out of the Seoul Western District Court in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Monday. Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of seven years for Park on charges of failing to properly respond to the Itaewon crowd crush that took 159 lives on Oct. 29, 2022. [NEWS1]

Prosecutors on Monday recommended a prison sentence of seven years for Park Hee-young, chief of the Yongsan District Office, who was sent to trial on charges of failing to respond properly to the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush that occurred on Oct. 29, 2022.

At the decision hearing for four Yongsan District Office officials held at the Seoul Western District Court, the prosecution requested seven years in prison for Park, three years for Choi Won-joon, former head of the Yongsan Safety and Disaster Division and two years each for Yongsan Deputy Chief Yoo Seung-jae and head of the Yongsan Transportation Division Moon In-hwan.

“Park is one of the people most responsible for failing to prevent the Itaewon disaster as head of the district and the control tower for preventing accidents,” the prosecution said. “Although it was clearly expected that crowds would concentrate in Itaewon on the first Halloween after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, no safety measures were prepared. The disaster and safety situation room was not properly operated, and there had been no joint public-private safety inspection prior to the disaster. The control tower did not function at all.”

The prosecution also accused Choi, Yoo and Moon of negligence and failing to fulfill their responsibilities to prevent and respond to the disaster that took 159 lives and injured 196 others on Oct. 29, 2022.

Before requesting the sentence, the visibly emotional prosecutor in charge prayed for the souls of the victims of the disaster.

“If any of the defendants had fulfilled their responsibilities according to the law and common sense, the tragedy would not have occurred,” the prosecutor said.

Park and the others have maintained throughout the trial process that they could not have predicted that a large-scale crowd crush would occur in Itaewon, a neighborhood in Yongsan District, central Seoul, known for its large population of foreigners and nightlife.

When the defendants were asked to leave the court at 4:25 p.m. after the trial, bereaved families of the victims present at the court protested that they still had more to say, and an altercation broke out in the courtroom and in the hallway.

The bereaved families and civic groups were seen holding up picket signs and protesting outside the court before the trial began, demanding that Park and others be “severely punished.”

The district chief and others were indicted in January of last year on charges of failing to respond properly to the crowd crush, including a lack of a safety management plan and the improper operation of the disaster and safety situation room.

Park is also accused of writing and distributing a press release that falsely stated her arrival time at the scene of the disaster in a move to cover up the poor response, while former safety chief Choi is accused of failing to respond to the disaster immediately even after receiving a report about the disaster.

Park and Choi were arrested during the initial police investigation on Dec. 26, 2022, but were released on bail last June and have been on trial without detention.

The sentencing date for the four Yongsan District Office officials is scheduled for Sept. 30.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]