S. Korea police admit responsibility for crowd crush

South Korea's police chief admitted "a heavy responsibility" for failing to prevent the Halloween crowd surge in Seoul on Tuesday that left more than 150 people dead.

Yoon HeeKeun said officers did not effectively handle emergency calls warning about overcrowding in the Itaewon district and an initial investigation had found that there had been many urgent calls by citizens, notifying authorities about the potential for disaster on Saturday night.

But officers who received those calls didn't respond to them in a satisfactory manner. He said an internal investigation would probe deeper into the officers' handling