Former Yongsan Public Health Center chief Choi Jae-won, who had subordinates draft a report falsely recording the time of the person's arrival at the scene during the deadly crowd crush in the nightlife district of Itaewon, received a suspended prison sentence on appeal as well.
On the 16th, the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Appeals Division 2-2 (Presiding Judges Jeong Seong-gyun, Lee Hyun-woo, and Lee Dong-sik) dismissed the appeals filed by former chief Choi and prosecutors and, as in the lower court, sentenced Choi to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, and 160 hours of community service. Choi is charged with falsifying and using official electronic records.
Choi's side has argued that the report was merely an internal document to record employees' overtime and therefore does not constitute the crime of falsifying official electronic records.
The crime of falsifying official electronic records involves making or altering, with the intent to disrupt administrative processing, electronic records or other special media records of a public official or public office.
However, the court did not accept Choi's argument.
The court said, "The report in question was prepared under the title of a statement of report or report," and noted, "It is generally prepared when evidence is needed in anticipation of external audits or reports to higher-level agencies."
It added, "It does not appear that the lower court's sentence was so heavy or light as to fall outside the reasonable bounds of discretion," and dismissed both appeals.
Earlier, former chief Choi was brought to trial on charges of having a false report entered into the Seoul city electronic document system to make it appear that the person arrived at the scene around 11:30 p.m. the previous day, even though the person arrived at Itaewon Station at about 12:06 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2022, the day after the deadly crowd crush in the nightlife district of Itaewon.
The first-instance court said, "This caused an official electronic record related to a grave disaster to be falsely recorded, and victims and bereaved families are petitioning for severe punishment," but also said, "After a shocking incident, the person's cognitive and judgment abilities were diminished," and imposed a suspended prison sentence.