Yongsan-gu Former Deputy District Commissioner: ``Itaewon disaster is unimaginable...If we had predicted it, we would have mobilized the military'' - South Korea

Yoo Seung-jae, 57, former deputy district commissioner of Yongsan-gu, who was indicted on charges of not taking appropriate safety management measures in connection with the 'Itaewon disaster,' also stated in court that ``I could not have predicted the crushing accident.''
I couldn't do it,'' he claimed. On the 11th, the 11th Criminal Panel of the Seoul Western District Court held a trial of Park Hee-young, the head of the Yongsan District Office, and other Yongsan District Office officials.
Witness examination was conducted. Deputy District Commissioner Yoo former said at the meeting, ``If I had predicted that a crushing accident would occur, would I have responded that way?If I had predicted it, I would have mobilized the military, but it is impossible to predict.''
"It was difficult," he said. Last year, at an expanded executive meeting of the ward office in the run-up to Halloween, he asked participants to make efforts to prevent safety accidents.
"I have never planned for an accident before and prepared for it." At a meeting at the time, he said, ``Every time I went to the site on Halloween, there were so many people that I was pushed out.''
What was it? It was pointed out that he had identified places where accidents could occur, saying, ``That's the case with other food districts around the world.'' ``Itaewon is crowded with people even on weekends, and ~Sunday afternoon
The message was to warn people to watch carefully because people will be gathering from 8 to 9 p.m.," he explained. Vice Mayor Yu former said that the ward office is working on Halloween-related issues such as noise control and establishing cleaning plans.
He reiterated the defendants' previous assertion that they did everything possible to respond to the attack, and that managing the crowd was the police's job. Regarding the ``human waves and clouds gathering accident'' predicted by the ward office, Vice Mayor Yoo said, ``I don't think it will be done at the administrative office.''
"This is a precaution against things like colliding with facilities or falling from a subway vent, which happened in the past, so I could never have imagined something like that (a crushing death accident)," he said.
He added, ``It's not something that administrative offices can do if people concentrate and cause disorder.''
Furthermore, regarding Halloween last year, the ward office did not request cooperation from the police, and the police had already voluntarily remanded human resources.
He explained that this was because he had made a layout plan. However, prosecutors believe that the ward office is also responsible for crowd management in this case, and in January they accused four ward office officials, including Ward Office Director Park, of causing death or injury due to professional negligence.
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