▲ A citizen bows near Itaewon Station on Nov. 3, 2022, in mourning of those killed in the deadly crowd crush. (Yonhap)

Itaewon crush-probe

Police to request probe into Yongsan office chief, Seoul police situation monitoring officer

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- The National Police Agency plans to request a probe into the head of the Yongsan Police Station and a situation monitoring officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in connection with the bungled police response to the deadly Itaewon crush, officials said Thursday.

The decision came as criticism of police has been mounting following revelations that police did little to prevent the crush even though a total of 11 emergency calls alerting them to overcrowding in Itaewon were filed before the accident.

The National Police Agency will request a special investigation team to investigate Lee Im-jae, the chief of the Yongsan Police Station that polices Itaewon, and Ryu Mi-jin, who was in charge of situation monitoring at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency at the time of the deadly accident.

The tragedy happened Saturday night when a massive crowd of Halloween partygoers packed a narrow 3.2-meter-wide alley in Seoul's entertainment district of Itaewon and left 156 people killed.

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