Minister of Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min visits the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's 112 emergency call service center, Oct. 20. Yonhap
The government said Wednesday it will overhaul the current operating system of the police's emergency hotline, responding to mounting criticism about their failure to properly respond to numerous calls warning of overcrowding in Seoul's Itaewon district on the night of the tragic crowd crush.
Park Jong-hyun, a ranking official at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in charge of social disaster response, said the government will come up with comprehensive measures to revamp the operations of the police's 112 emergency call service, as soon as the investigation into the cause of the Itaewon disaster is completed.
"The government will do its best to create a safer society by using this accident as a lesson. Measures will be taken to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents," Park said in a media briefing.
