Seoul Police Officers Convicted Over Halloween Crush Deaths

On October 29, 2022, tens of thousands of people gathered for the first post-pandemic holiday celebrations in Seoul, South Korea. However, the night turned tragic when large crowds poured into a narrow, sloping alleyway between bars and clubs, resulting in fatalities. Two former senior police officers, identified as Park Sung-min and Kim Jin-ho, were convicted for their roles in the incident. Park, a former intelligence officer with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, while his subordinates Kim and Kwak Young-seok received shorter, suspended sentences. The controversy surrounding this incident deepened when it was revealed that Park had ordered the deletion of four internal police reports warning of potential crowd-related incidents before the holiday. This information contradicts earlier reports stating that there were no warnings issued by the police prior to the tragedy.