▲ Lee Im-jae, former Yongsan chief, Lee Jong-chul, representative of the Bereaved Family Council


Officials accused of manslaughter at work in connection with the Itaewon tragedy, including former Seoul Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae and Yongsan District Commissioner Park Hee-young, all denied the allegations in court.

At the first trial preparation day held today (17th) morning at the hearing of Part 11 of the Criminal Settlement of the Seoul West District Law (Chief Judge Bae Sung-joong), the former chief's counsel issued an opinion denying all the accusations.

The former chief said, "Apart from moral and administrative responsibility, there is a legal problem in assuming criminal responsibility," and "in the case of making false public documents, we do not recognize the factual relationship itself."

In addition to manslaughter at work, the former chief is also charged with directing a false report of his arrival at the site (making false public documents).



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Officials from the Yongsan District Office, including Mayor Park, also submitted opinions to the effect that they denied the allegations.

In his opinion, Park argued that "no specific duty of care was presented with respect to causation, and there was no possibility of foreseeing or avoiding (the accident)."

He retorted, "Victims who were injured outside the accident site, or who went to the emergency room but did not need to obtain a medical certificate, were also listed as injury victims."

Other district officials, including Yoo Seung-jae, former deputy mayor of Yongsan, and Choi Won-joon, former director of the Yongsan District Safety and Disaster Department, also denied the allegations, saying, "Halloween Day is not subject to the establishment of a disaster safety management plan for Yongsan-gu."

Eight defendants from the police and Yongsan District Office were present in court today, except for the mayor of Park.

(Photo = Yonhap News)