Court rejects minister's removal over Itaewon crush

SEOUL — South Korea's top court on Tuesday ruled against a parliamentary vote to impeach the interior minister over what critics said was a botched response to a deadly Halloween crush in Seoul last year, provoking anger and dismay among victims' relatives.

Some relatives at the hearing broke down in tears after the Constitutional Court ruling, with two mothers collapsing and taken away by an ambulance, Reuters reported. There was a heavy police presence at the court.

Lawmakers in February voted to impeach minister Lee Sang-min, urging him to take responsibility for the failure of the response to a crowd surge that killed 159 people, most of them young people celebrating Halloween, in Seoul's Itaewon district.