sangdaebangi meonjeo jinsulhaessgo gyeongchari chaegimeul hwaginhaesseoyo.

상대방 is a common word in situations like accidents, disputes, contracts, or interviews. It means the other party or the other side, so it sounds more formal and situation-specific than 다른 사람, which just means another person.

In this sentence, 상대방 suggests someone on the opposite side of the incident or case, not just any random person.

먼저 means first or beforehand. It tells you that the other party made their statement earlier than someone else or earlier than the next event.

Here, 먼저 is the main clue that the statement happened before the police confirmed responsibility. Even without changing the English meaning much, it adds a clear sense of order.

Yes. 진술하다 is much more formal than 말하다.

• 말하다 = to speak, to say
• 진술하다 = to make a statement, to testify, to give an account

진술하다 is often used in legal, police, or official contexts. So in this sentence, it sounds like the other party gave an official statement, not just casually said something.

Korean often leaves out information that is understood from context. So the content of the statement does not have to be said explicitly.

If you wanted to include it, you could say something like:

• 상대방이 사고 경위를 먼저 진술했고...
  • The other party first stated the course of the accident / what happened in the accident

In the original sentence, the listener is expected to understand what was being stated.

The ending -고 connects two clauses. It often means and, and then, or simply links two actions together.

So 진술했고 경찰이... 확인했어요 means the first action is connected to the second one. In this sentence, the order is understood as:

1. the other party made a statement
2. the police confirmed responsibility

The sense of first is strengthened mainly by 먼저. The -고 itself just links the two parts.

Yes, it is past tense.

진술했고 comes from:

• 진술하- = verb stem
• -였- / -았- / -었- = past marker
• -고 = connective ending

So 진술했고 means stated, and... or made a statement, and then...

Both actions in the sentence are in the past:

• 진술했고
• 확인했어요

Because each clause has its own subject.

• 상대방이 = the subject of 진술했고
• 경찰이 = the subject of 책임을 확인했어요

Korean often marks the subject separately in each clause when it helps keep things clear. This is especially useful here because the subject changes from the other party to the police.

Because 확인하다 is usually used as a transitive verb here, meaning to confirm/check something.

So:

• 경찰이 책임을 확인했어요
  • The police confirmed the responsibility
  • 책임 is the object, so it takes 을

If you said 책임이 확인됐어요, that would mean:

• The responsibility was confirmed
• Here 책임 becomes the subject of a passive-style expression

So the original sentence focuses on what the police did.

In this kind of sentence, 책임 usually means responsibility, fault, or even liability, depending on context.

It does not have to mean only moral blame. In police, insurance, or accident contexts, it often refers to who is officially responsible for what happened. So it can sound fairly legal or factual.

-어요 is the standard polite conversational style. It is natural in everyday speech and polite explanations.

Other possible styles include:

• 확인했습니다 — more formal, often used in reports or official speech
• 확인했어 — casual, used with friends or someone younger
• 확인하였다 — written or formal narrative style

So the original sentence is polite but not overly formal.

Yes. Korean allows some flexibility depending on context and style. For example:

• 상대방이 먼저 진술하고 경찰이 책임을 확인했어요.
• 상대방이 먼저 진술한 뒤 경찰이 책임을 확인했어요.
• 상대방이 먼저 진술했고, 경찰은 책임을 확인했어요.

These are similar, but the nuance changes slightly:

• -고 = simple connection
• -한 뒤 = more clearly after
• 경찰은 instead of 경찰이 = shifts the second subject more toward topic/contrast

The original version is natural and clear, especially when describing a sequence of events.