**South Korean Court Acquits Former Police Chief Over Deadly Crowd Crush**
A South Korean court has acquitted the former police chief of Seoul and two other officers over their botched response to a Halloween crowd crush that tragically claimed the lives of nearly 160 people in 2022. The Seoul Western District Court’s verdict has sparked outrage among grieving relatives and advocates who believe that high-level officials should be held accountable for the incident, primarily attributed to a lack of disaster planning and inadequate emergency response.
Kim Kwang-ho, the former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was the highest-ranking police official among more than 20 indicted individuals related to the crush in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul. Prosecutors had requested a five-year prison sentence for Kim. An investigation conducted by the National Police Agency revealed that authorities had failed to implement effective crowd control measures despite anticipating over 100,000 people to gather for Halloween events in Itaewon. Only 137 officers were assigned to Itaewon on the day of the crush, and warnings from pedestrians about swelling crowds were ignored until the situation turned fatal.
Experts have described the crush as a “manmade disaster” that could have been prevented with simple measures such as deploying more police and public workers to monitor congested areas, enforcing one-way walking lanes, and blocking narrow pathways. The Seoul court, however, cleared Kim of professional negligence, stating that prosecutors did not sufficiently prove his violation of duties or establish a direct link between his actions and the high casualty count.
Along with Kim, two lower-ranking police officers facing similar charges were also acquitted. The ruling has been strongly criticized by the Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families group, representing the victims, as “dishonest” and “incomprehensible,” urging prosecutors to appeal the decision. In a separate case, the court sentenced the former chief of Seoul’s Yongsan district police station to three years in prison for professional negligence resulting in death, while two other colleagues were convicted for the same offense.
Park Hee-young, head of the Yongsan ward office, and three other ward officials were acquitted by the court, as they were deemed to lack the legal authority to control or disperse crowds. The outcome of these legal proceedings has reignited debates about accountability and the need for improved disaster preparedness in response to large public events.