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South Korea police admit ‘heavy responsibility’ for Halloween stampede deaths

by Brad Dress - 11/01/22 9:43 AM ET

Flowers are seen near the scene of a deadly accident in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, following Saturday night’s Halloween festivities. A mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween festivities in Seoul became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley, killing dozens of people and injuring dozens of others in South Korea’s worst disaster in years. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean police on Tuesday took “heavy responsibility” and apologized for a deadly crowd surge in Seoul over the weekend that left more than 150 people dead, including two Americans.

National police chief Yoon Hee-keun said an initial investigation revealed that officers had received calls regarding the danger of the crowd size in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul.

“I feel a heavy responsibility as the head of one of the related government offices,” Yoon said in a televised news conference on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. “Police will do their best to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.”

Yoon has launched a probe into how the emergency calls were handled. There were also questions and accusations of a slow emergency personnel response to the disaster.

A 475-member task force is investigating what caused the crowd surge, with many details on the deadly incident still unknown.

The Halloween event in Itaewon swelled to more than 100,00 people on Saturday before the surge broke out, becoming the city’s largest Halloween celebration since the pandemic began.

The crowd surge left at least 156 people dead and another 151 injured. Most of the victims who died were in their 20s and 30s.

Among the dead were two Americans: Anne Marie Gieske, Rep. Brad Wenstrup’s (R-Ohio) niece, and a 20-year-old college student, Steven Blesi.

About 137 officers had been dispatched to the Halloween event, which was more than previous celebrations in the past few years but not enough to handle the crowd. And the officers were not deployed for crowd control and were primarily assigned to monitor crime, police said.

Police also sent 7,000 officers to other parts of Seoul on Saturday to handle protests involving tens of thousands of people.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol admitted the country lacks adequate policies around crowd control and has called for a review of national safety rules.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.