[Anchor]

Ahead of the 4th anniversary of the Itaewon crowd crush, the Special Investigation Commission on the Itaewon Disaster held its first interim reporting session since its launch. The commission pointed to gaps in police security, poor judgment by related agencies, and the evasion of responsibility as the causes of the disaster.

[Reporter Im Jihyeon]


The interim reporting session of the Special Investigation Commission on the Itaewon Disaster was held at 10:00 a.m. today (October 27) at the Press Center.

During the session, presentations continued on institutional improvement measures to prevent recurrence and future plans.

First, the commission pointed out that the occurrence of the Itaewon disaster was not the fault of any single institution alone.

It stated that the police and fire authorities who failed to dispatch in a timely manner, the Yongsan District Office which neglected illegal structures, and the presidential office which failed to act as a control tower all share responsibility for the disaster.

On the day of the disaster, no police officers were present at the scene to manage the crowd. The interim investigation revealed that the Yongsan Police Station did not even request riot police at the time.

Although a large crowd was expected, the police primarily deployed personnel for drug crackdowns in preparation for Halloween, failing to establish crowd safety measures.

Circumstances were also captured indicating that the Yongsan District Office neglected illegal extensions.

The commission stated that illegal extensions around the alley where the disaster occurred had been detected since 2014, but instead of being demolished, compliance fines were continuously imposed.

In addition, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety control center was late in transmitting instructions from the presidential office after the initial situation occurred. The commission stated it secured testimony from a ministry official at the time suggesting that if the situation had been reported quickly, "there was a strong psychology that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety might become the disaster agency" and "they would have preferred the ministry not to take charge."

The commission views that this inertia within the public service society trying to avoid disaster management responsibilities delayed disaster response and the formation of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

The commission plans to further investigate accountability regarding personnel deployment and on-site decisions, including who made the decision not to deploy police riot police units to the scene.

[Video Editing: Kim Tae-ho]