EX-YONGSAN POLICE CHIEF AVOIDS ARREST

[Anchor Lead]

Now turning to updates related to the ongoing investigation into the Itaewon tragedy. The arrest warrant for former Yongsan police chief Lee Im-jae, who was the commanding officer of the site on the day of the tragedy, has been dismissed. However. arrest warrants for two senior police intelligence officials Park Sung-min have been issued under the suspicion of ordering the deletion of an internal intelligence report, which shows prior warnings of a possible safety accident.

[Pkg]

Former Yongsan police chief Lee Im-jae has been viewed as one of the key suspects of the Itaewon crowd crush. With the arrest warrant for him dismissed, he leaves the detention center.

[Soundbite] Lee Im-jae(former Yongsan Police Station chief) : "As a police chief who failed to protect victims' lives, I will live my entire life repenting. I will fully cooperate with the probe to find the cause and truth of the crowd crush."

The court cited that Lee is not deemed a flight risk with the intention to destroy evidence. It added that Lee should be guaranteed his right to defend. An arrest warrant was also dismissed for Song Byung-joo, a former senior official at Yongsan Police Station, who is facing the same accusations as Lee. Lee is accused of failing to prevent the tragedy by disregarding the report to dispatch more police officers to the stampede site. He is also accused of negligence in handling the situation after the crush occurred. Song is suspected of failing to take appropriate measures despite emergency calls warning of a possible crowd crush. However, the court issued arrest warrants for former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official Park Sung-min and ex-Yongsan Police Station official Kim Jin-ho, citing risks of destroying evidence. The intelligence specialists are suspected of ordering the deletion of reports analyzing risk factors following the disaster. Some critics say the dismissal of arrest warrants for Lee and Song, who were supposed to act as field commanders during the crush, will likely hinder the ongoing probe. They deem the court has rejected claims that the police's bungled early response made the disaster worse. The police's special investigation team plans to decide on whether to seek arrest warrants for Lee and Song again after reviewing the court's grounds for the dismissals. A full-scale probe is now under way regarding Seoul Metro's role on the day of the accident. A high-ranking official at the Seoul subway operator reportedly ordered the head of the Dongmyo branch office, which oversees Itaewon Station, to consider making trains pass without stopping at Itaewon. However, the order was apparently not delivered to the station's chief. The special investigation team has booked the Dongmyo branch chief for disregarding the order.