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SOUTH KOREA’S police chief admitted today that he felt “a heavy responsibility” for failing to prevent the disaster in Seoul that killed more than 150 people on Saturday.
The admission arrived as the South Korean government came under increased criticism for the way the disaster was handled.
Yoon Hee Keun, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, said initial investigations have found that calls had been made to authorities to warn of the danger being posed by the large crowd gathering in the popular Itaewon district of the Korean capital.
But, he admitted, officers had failed to respond to the calls.
The police chief said: “I feel a heavy responsibility for the disaster as the head of one of the related government offices.”
Mr Yoon said police have launched an internal probe into what happened this evening, including looking at how emergency calls are handled by officers.
The disaster, which left 156 dead and 151 others injured, is South Korea’s deadliest disaster since the 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people and exposed the country’s inadequate safety rules.
