Bereaved families outraged after police chief acquitted in Itaewon tragedy

Bereaved family members of the Itaewon crowd crush disaster cry out in despair in front of the Seoul Western District Court in western Seoul on Thursday, after former Seoul Metropolitan Police Chief Kim Kwang-ho and two other officers, who were found not guilty, left the court building following the hearing. (Yonhap)

Bereaved families erupted in outrage following the acquittal of former Seoul Metropolitan Police Chief Kim Kwang-ho and two senior officials in a case concerning the Itaewon crowd crush.

The court’s Thursday ruling sparked widespread anger among the families and their advocates, who accuse the judiciary of failing to hold top officials accountable for the disaster, which they attribute to inadequate planning and emergency response measures.

The Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families group strongly condemned the acquittals, declaring them "impossible to understand." They insisted that the main officials, who neglected their duties for prevention, must be held accountable, as they have urged prosecutors to pursue an appeal.

"The ruling is not something we can accept or understand," said Lee Jeong-min, a representative of the association of bereaved families. Despite having anticipated a dense crowd, officials had not taken necessary precautions to prevent the disaster, Lee added.

"We have spent two years seeking justice for our children, who lost their lives due to clear negligence by those responsible," Lee stated, vowing to continue to seek justice for the Itaewon tragedy.

The Seoul Western District Court acquitted Kim Kwang-ho, the former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, of criminal charges for professional negligence related to the deadly Itaewon crowd crush that claimed the lives of 159 people, during Halloween celebrations on October 29, 2022. Kim was the highest-ranked police officer to face criminal charges regarding the tragedy.

The court said prosecutors had not proven Kim violated his duty to warn the police directly and specifically about the potential crowd crush hazard. The judge said, “It is hard to affirm that Kim failed in his responsibility as he ordered the agency’s patrol division to review the crowd management safety plan twice.”

Two other police officers who worked at the agency's 112 situation room, Ryu Mi-jin and Jeong Dae-kyung, were acquitted on the same day.

The families' anger has been compounded by the recent acquittals of high-ranking officials.

This ruling comes on the heels of the contentious acquittal of Park Hee-young, head of the Yongsan-gu Office, who was cleared of professional negligence charges last month. Park and three other Yongsan-gu officials were acquitted on Sept. 30 on grounds that they lacked the legal authority to control crowd movements.

The bereaved families asked in local reports, "If no one is held accountable for the deaths of the 159 victims, then who will bear the responsibility?"

The crowd crush on Oct. 29, 2022, claimed the lives of 159 people who had gathered in central Seoul's Itaewon nightlife area in Yongsan-gu for Halloween celebrations.

Kim Kwang-ho, former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, enters the Seoul Western District Court on Thursday, western Seoul. (Yonhap)

By Lee Jaeeun(jenn@heraldcorp.com)