The former head of Yongsan police, who was removed from duty over a deficient response to the fatal crowd surge in Itaewon late last month, argued that he was not briefed on the incident until more than 40 minutes after the accident. 

Lee Im-je attended a question-and-answer session at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee on Wednesday, where he gave his account on the October 29 disaster.

Lee drew strong criticism following the tragic incident after he was found to have arrived at the police station in Itaewon near the deadly site at 11:05 p.m., about 50 minutes after the fatal crowd crush was reported to have occurred. 

The public anger grew stronger after local media reported that he was only some two kilometers away, eating dinner at a restaurant, around 30 minutes prior to the accident and was not unable to get to the scene earlier. He was also reportedly sitting in a chauffeured car stuck in traffic for a full hour when he could have gotten to the site faster on foot. 

Explaining why he was late, Lee said he had not received any report from his subordinates on the incident and was unaware of the enormity of the situation, adding he only came to know of it at around 11 p.m. 

He said he asked the 112 situation room chief about any particular matters in the area deserving his attention as his car arrived at the nearby Noksapyeong subway station at about 9:57 p.m., but was told there was none. By that time, nearly ten calls had been made to the 112 situation room on the crowd bottleneck in the Itaewon alley. 

Despite his arguments, Lee apologized to the victims and bereaved families, saying as the district police chief in charge then, he feels wretched and assumes indefinite responsibility.