A South Korean police officer being investigated for the fatal Halloween stampede was found dead at his home in Seoul on Friday, according to the Yonhap news agency. The man was only identified by his surname Jeong, he was in charge of intelligence affairs at the Yongsan police station covering Itaewon, the popular nightlife area where the fatal stampede took place. It was a member of his family who found the body around 12:45 p.m. (4:45 a.m. French time).
On October 29, 156 people were killed and 198 injured when thousands of costumed revelers filled the narrow lanes of the Itaewon district to celebrate the first Halloween festivities without Covid masks in three years.
On Monday, MPs denounced the suppression of intelligence reports warning of a serious accident, they called for the arrest and punishment of those responsible. National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun told lawmakers that the Yongsan station’s intelligence chief had ordered the recordings deleted and an investigation would be conducted. A search was carried out in Yongsan’s offices by a special unit of the National Police Agency. Jeong, 55, was among those investigated.
VIDEO. Deadly stampede in Seoul: “People kept dancing”
A few hours before the tragedy, passers-by and revelers had telephoned the police to warn of the problems of affluence. Witnesses said there were few or no crowd control measures in place in Itaewon on the night of the stampede, despite these warnings.
According to CNN, police received at least 11 calls from people concerned about the possibility of a crowd crush, with the first coming four hours prior. The first call was at 6:34 p.m., when a caller warned, “It sounds really dangerous… I’m afraid people will get run over.” Less than two hours later, another caller said there were so many people crammed into the alleyways that they kept falling and hurting themselves.
Speaking to the media last week, Yoon Hee-keun admitted for the first time that the police made mistakes in their response.