South Korea: Police chief charged over Seoul Halloween crush
Seoul’s police chief has been formally charged with negligence over a year after a Halloween stampede resulted in the deaths of 159 individuals in South Korea.
Kim Kwang-ho, the highest-ranking police official implicated in the incident, is accused of failing to ensure an adequate police presence in Itaewon, central Seoul, on October 29, 2022, when reports indicate that over 100,000 people had gathered in the area.
Although some relatives of the victims welcome the charges, they express frustration that action was not taken sooner. They are calling for the immediate resignation of the police chief and insisting on his trial.
Kim, who serves as the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was off duty and at home when the tragic incident unfolded.
According to authorities, only 137 officers were deployed in Itaewon that night, outnumbered by the predominantly young crowd in the narrow alleys of the Itaewon entertainment district.
Trouble signs began around 18:30 local time, hours before the fatal stampede occurred in an alley off the main road.
Most of the victims from that fateful night were in their 20s. A report released in January 2023 attributed the weak planning and inadequate emergency response to local municipal and emergency service officials.
It revealed that no preventive measures were taken beforehand, and appropriate actions were not implemented despite receiving emergency calls for help.
Investigators also noted that incorrect assessments of the situation resulted in delayed information relay and a lack of cooperation among organizations.
In a statement, a group representing the families of those killed in the incident asserted that Mr. Kim was “fully aware of the danger to the public and, for some unexplained reason, neglected the scene of the Itaewon tragedy.”
It accused Mr. Kim of being “responsible for breaching his specific duty of care by failing to properly exercise his authority to deploy police” and called for him to be “severely punished”.