SEOUL– The head of the Seoul police is expected to be summoned for questioning soon as part of an investigation into the bungled response to the crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood, police said Monday.

Kim Kwang-ho, the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, is highly likely to be switched to a suspect as the special investigation team probing the fatal crush expands its investigation into the police leadership.

Kim, who is in charge of all police stations in Seoul, including the Itaewon district, was aware of the incident around 1 hour and 21 minutes after the first 112 emergency call was made on Oct. 29. A total of 158 people, mostly those in their 20s, were killed.

Yongsan Ward office chief Park Hee-young, who oversees the Itaewon district, and Park Sung-min, a superintendent general, also appeared before the special investigation team separately as suspects earlier Monday.

The Yongsan Ward chief has been booked on charges of professional negligence resulting in the deaths of 158 people, mostly those in their 20s, on Oct. 29. She has also been banned from leaving the country.

The team is investigating whether she had sufficient disaster prevention planning for the Halloween crowds in advance and whether she was faithful to her duties to promptly respond to the accident.

Meanwhile, Park, the superintendent general, is under suspicion of ordering the deletion of an internal intelligence report giving prior warnings of a possible safety accident during the Halloween period in a suspected attempt to cover up inaction. A superintendent general is the fourth-highest rank.

He is the highest-ranking police officer among a total of 17 police officers and government officials booked for police investigation. They all have already been summoned for questioning.

The team said it plans to seek pretrial detention warrants against some of the suspects this week.

Source: Yonhap News Agency