'Responding to the poor response to the Itaewon disaster' Former Yongsan Chief, 3 years in prison

[Anchor]
The first trial court sentenced Lee Im-jae, former chief of Yongsan Police Station, to three years in prison for his poor response during the Itaewon disaster, which killed 159 people.

The first trial sentence for Yongsan-gu Mayor Park Hee-young will also be released soon.

I'll connect you with more news and reporters. Reporter Yoon Woong Sung!

Former Chief Lee Im-jae was sentenced to prison?

[Reporter]
Yes, the Seoul Western District Court sentenced former Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae, who was handed over to trial on charges of professional negligence and death, to three years in prison.

The court judged that former Chief Lee was responsible for preparing and responding to comprehensive and effective measures as the head of the police station in charge of security in Yongsan-gu.

For this reason, he criticized that although he had to fully predict the accident and take appropriate measures, he neglected safety preparations with complacent awareness and caused a disaster.

However, he was acquitted of charges such as requiring his subordinates to falsely record the time of arrival at the scene of the disaster.

In addition, he was not arrested in court, saying there was no fear of destroying evidence.

Two police officials, including Song Byung-joo, the former head of the 112 situation office in Yongsan, who was handed over to trial, also sentenced him to two years and one year in prison, respectively, for raising his anger through poor management of the situation.

At 3:30 p.m., the trial of four district officials, including Yongsan-gu Mayor Park Hee-young, began.The results of the sentence for Mayor Park

are also expected to come out soon.

Earlier, the bereaved families of the Itaewon disaster held a press conference at Seoul Plaza and urged severe punishment for Mayor Park and former Chief Lee.

Let's listen to the bereaved family.

[Lee Jung-min / Chairman of the Itaewon bereaved family council: We must be held accountable for the consequences so that tragedy can never come around us again. Only today will we be able to confirm the judgment on the results.]

While the court has admitted former Chief Lee's allegations of professional manslaughter, attention is also being paid to the results of the remaining first trial related to the Itaewon disaster, including Mayor Park and former Seoul Mayor Kim Kwang-ho, who are accused of the same charges.

I'm YTN Yoon Woong Sung.