National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun / Yonhap

The police chief only became aware of Saturday's deadly Itaewon crowd crush nearly two hours after the incident began, the National Police Agency said Wednesday, amid mounting criticism over the police response.

The agency said it made its first report to Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun over the incident in Seoul's entertainment district of Itaewon at 12:14 a.m. Sunday, one hour 59 minutes after the crowd crush began.

Yoon gave his first orders to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency commissioner Kim Gwang-ho to swiftly respond to the situation at 12:19 a.m. Kim had been notified of the situation 43 minutes earlier by a report from the chief of Yongsan Police Station in charge of the area.

By the time Yoon received his report, there were numerous media reports that dozens of victims were in cardiac arrest.

The report was made later than when President Yoon Suk-yeol first became aware of the crush at 11:01 p.m.

The disclosure comes as the police face growing criticism over its response to the deadly crush, which has claimed at least 156 lives, following revelations that it snubbed a series of emergency calls about overcrowding in the neighborhood hours before the disaster.

A special police investigation team raided the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the Yongsan Police Station and six other offices earlier Wednesday as part of an investigation into the police response to the crush. (Yonhap)