S. Korean police seek manslaughter charges over deadly crush

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police are seeking charges of involuntary manslaughter and negligence against 23 officials for a lack of safety measures they said were responsible for a crowd surge that killed nearly 160 people. Despite anticipating a crowd of more than 100,000 Halloween weekend, Seoul police had assigned 137 officers to the capital’s nightlife district Itaewon on the day of the crush. Those officers were focused on monitoring narcotics use and violent crimes, which experts say left few resources for pedestrian safety. On Friday, Son Je-han, who headed the National Police Agency’s special investigation into the incident, cited a series of what he called “overlapping failures” for the high death toll and recommend the indictment of 23 officials.