A district court has handed down prison sentences to two former senior police officers who allegedly ordered the destruction of reports outlining possible safety concerns regarding Halloween celebrations in the Itaewon area, shortly after the deadly Itaewon crowd crush in 2022.

The Seoul Western District Court on Wednesday sentenced Park Sung-min to one-and-a-half years in prison and Kim Jin-ho to one year in prison, suspended for three years. 

At the time of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush, Park headed the Seoul Metropolitan Police’s Department of Intelligence on Public Peace and Security and Foreign Affairs while Kim was the chief of the Yongsan Police Station’s intelligence department.

Park and Kim were indicted on charges of ordering the deletion of four internal reports focused on the possibility of overcrowding in the Itaewon area.

In issuing its verdict, the court said Park had been more concerned about blame being placed on the police than in determining the cause of the crowd surge. The court said Park had disappointed the public and damaged the transparency of the police force’s intelligence activities by destroying internal documents. 

The court said that when making its ruling, it had taken into consideration that Park admitted to most of the charges against him, had not sought personal gain with his actions and had diligently carried out his duties during his career in the police. 

In its ruling, the court said Kim had participated in an illegal act even though subordinate officers took issue with orders to destroy the report files while adding that it would have been difficult for Kim to refuse orders from his superiors. 

During a hearing last December, the prosecution sought three years in prison for both Park and Kim.