A South Korean court has found the former police chief of Seoul and two other officers not guilty in relation to a Halloween crowd crush that killed nearly 160 people in 2022. The incident occurred in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon, where police and local officials failed to plan effective crowd control measures despite expecting over 100,000 people to gather for Halloween events. The investigators found that only 137 officers were assigned to Itaewon on the day of the crush, and police ignored hotline calls warning of swelling crowds before the surge turned deadly. Once people began getting crushed in an alley near Hamilton Hotel, police failed to establish control over the site and allow paramedics to reach the injured in time.
The court acquitted the former police chief, Kim Kwang-ho, of professional negligence, stating that prosecutors failed to prove that he had violated his duties or that his conduct had a direct connection to the high toll of deaths and injuries. The court also acquitted two lower-ranking police officers who faced similar charges. While Kim received status updates about the situation in Itaewon before the crush, the court deemed this information insufficient for him to recognize the possibility of such a magnitude of an incident. Some of the victims’ relatives expressed anger and disappointment at the court’s decision, feeling that it failed to hold the police accountable for the incident.
Experts have described the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon as a “manmade disaster” that could have been prevented with simple steps like employing more police and public workers, enforcing one-way walking lanes, and blocking narrow pathways. The Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families group condemned the court’s ruling as “dishonest” and “impossible to understand,” calling for prosecutors to appeal the decision. The group emphasized that the main officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency were given a free pass despite ignoring their duties for prevention, preparation, and response to the anticipated large crowd in Itaewon.
In a separate case, the former chief of Yongsan police station was sentenced to three years in prison for professional negligence resulting in death, while two of his colleagues were convicted of similar charges. The court acquitted the head of the Yongsan ward office and three other ward officials, stating that they had no legal authority to control or break up crowds. The former chief of Yongsan police station and another police official who received a one-year sentence have appealed the ruling. The court’s decision in these cases has sparked outrage among the victims’ families and their advocates, who feel that justice has not been served for the lives lost in the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon.
