Ex-emergency monitoring officer at Yongsan Police Station quizzed over Itaewon crowd crush

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Police brought in a former emergency monitoring officer at Yongsan Police Station for questioning Wednesday as part of an investigation into the bungled response to the crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood.

Song Byung-joo, who was in charge of the police's 112 emergency hotline in Yongsan Ward covering the Itaewon district, will be quizzed by a special investigation team on whether he had promptly reported the situation to Lee Im-jae, who formerly headed the station.

Lee earlier testified during a parliamentary audit that he learned of the accident at around 11 p.m., around 45 minutes after the incident first erupted, claiming the emergency hotline chief had earlier reported to him that nothing unusual was going on.

Lee has been booked on charges of professional negligence and manslaughter by negligence resulting in the deaths of at least 158 people, mostly those in their 20s, on Oct. 29.

Yoo Seung-jae, a deputy chief at Yongsan Ward office, will also appear for questing.

Yoo presided over a safety meeting on behalf of Yongsan Ward office chief Park Hee-young two days before the incident to discuss measures against possible safety accidents during the Halloween period.

Park has also been booked on charges of professional negligence resulting in the deaths.

khj@yna.co.kr
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