Halloween crowd surge | South Korea officials admit responsibility

The government is facing growing public scrutiny over whether the crush Saturday night in Seoul’s Itaewon district could have been prevented

South Korean officials admitted responsibility and apologised on Tuesday for failures in preventing and responding to a Halloween crowd surge that killed more than 150 people and left citizens shocked and angry.

The government is facing growing public scrutiny over whether the crush on Saturday night in Seoul’s Itaewon district, a popular nightlife neighborhood, could have been prevented and who should take responsibility for the country’s worst disaster in years.

National police chief Yoon Hee Keun said an initial investigation found there were many urgent calls from citizens notifying authorities about the potential danger of the crowd gathering in Itaewon. He said police officers who received the calls failed to handle them effectively.

“I feel a heavy responsibility (for the disaster) as the head of one of the related government offices,” Mr. Yoon said in a televised news conference. “Police will do their best to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.”

Mr. Yoon said police have launched an intense internal probe into the officers’ handling of the emergency calls and other issues, such as the on-the-spot response to the crowd surge in Itaewon that night.

Separately, South Korea’s interior minister, emergency office chief, Seoul mayor and the head of a ward office that includes the Itaewon neighborhood all offered public apologies.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon apologized deeply and wept and briefly halted his news conference as he talked about the parent of a 20-year-old woman who was declared dead earlier in the day.