A South Korean court has sentenced Lee Im Jae, the former police chief of Seoul’s Yongsan district, to three years in prison for mishandling the response to the deadly Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon in 2022, which resulted in 159 deaths. 

Lee Im Jae was the first senior police official convicted for the incident, as the court stated he failed to anticipate the risks of a large Halloween gathering. 

The tragedy echoed the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, which killed 304 people. Two other former Yongsan police officials received lesser sentences, with one jailed for two years and another given a suspended one-year term.

The Itaewon tragedy occurred during the Halloween celebrations on October 29, 2022. Thousands of people had gathered in one of the most popular streets in Itaewon and the lack of crowd control and safety measures led to a chaotic surge. The tragedy claimed 159 lives and injured over 190 people.

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