Nearly 300 people are missing after a ferry capsizes off South Korea

[PrivateEyes]

Lee Joon-seok, the captain shamed by his escape from doomed ferry

Lee Joon-seok's four decades at sea will be forever defined by moment he landed on one of the first rescue boats as disaster struck the Sewol

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 April, 2014, 6:48am
UPDATED : Sunday, 27 April, 2014, 10:19am

Associated Press in Mokpo, South Korea

Lee Joon-seok (centre), captain of the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol, arrives at the headquarters of a joint investigation team of prosecutors and police in Mokpo. Photo: Reuters
A colleague describes Captain Lee Joon-seok as the nicest person on the ship.

Yet there he was, captured on video on the day his ferry sank with hundreds trapped inside, being treated onshore after allegedly landing on one of the first rescue boats.

Lee had more than 40 years' experience at sea and could speak with eloquence about the romance and the danger of a life spent on ships.

But his reputation now hinges on the moments on April 16 when he delayed an evacuation and apparently abandoned the ferry Sewol as it went down.

The disaster left more than 300 people missing or dead, most of them teenagers.

Lee was not on the bridge when the ship turned. But he is facing charges of criminal negligence and deserting passengers.

"He was generous, a really nice guy," Oh Yong-seok, a 57-year-old helmsman, said of a boss who always asked about his family and was happy to hand out personal and professional advice. "He was probably the nicest person on the ship."

Last week, the handcuffed captain was paraded before cameras, his face hidden beneath the dark hood of a windbreaker.

His fall from grace stands in stark contrast to Lee's striking portrayal, in interviews given to local media over the last decade, of a resilient and adventurous life spent at sea.

Illustration: Craig Stephens

It gives a chilling irony to his appearance on a 2010 travel show aired on cable broadcaster OBS, in which he captained the Ohamana, another ferry that travelled the same Incheon-to-Jeju route as the Sewol.

"For those who are using our Incheon-to-Jeju ferry, I can tell you that the next time you return, it will be a safe and pleasant" experience, Lee said, dressed in a white captain's uniform with gold epaulettes on the shoulders.

"If you follow the instructions of our crew members, it will be safer than any other means of transportation."

Lee, 68, began his life at sea by chance, landing a job on a ship in his mid-20s. He worked on ocean freighters for 20 years before becoming a ferry captain, he said in a 2004 interview with Jeju Today, an internet news organisation. He was then captain of another Incheon-to-Jeju ferry.

"The first ship I sailed on was a hardwood ship that flipped over in waters near Okinawa, Japan.

"The Japanese Self-Defence Forces saved me with their helicopters," Lee recalled. "If I hadn't been saved then, I wouldn't be here today."

Lee said there were times he thought about giving up sailing.

"When I got caught in a storm at sea, I told myself I would never get on a ship again. But the human mind is cunning. After getting over one crisis, I would forget such thoughts, and I've been sailing on ships until this day," he said.

With a poetic flair, Lee spoke of the countless sunrises and sunsets he'd seen at sea.

"When the sun rises, the sea seems to bubble up and roar, but at sunset it's calm and quiet," Lee said. "I become solemn and I think about past memories."

Lee also spoke of his pride in his work, even if it meant time away from his own family.

"I take comfort in carrying people on the ferry who are visiting their hometowns, helping them so they can spend happy times with their family - something that's not granted to me," Lee said. "Today or tomorrow, I will be with the ship."

The Sewol was a nearly 7,000-ton ship with a capacity of 921 passengers. Its owner, Chonghaejin Marine, had three captains, including Lee.

They took control of Sewol on just 10 days each month when another captain went on vacation, said an official at Incheon Regional Maritime Affairs and Port Administration.

An unidentified Chonghaejin official told Yonhap news agency that Lee had the longest sailing career of the three captains.

Yonhap said Lee was believed to have joined Chonghaejin in November 2006 and to have sailed the route between Incheon and Jeju during his entire time with the company.

Crew members interviewed knew little about the captain's personal life.

"Although we had no conversation about personal stuff, he was a nice guy," said Park Kyung-nam, another helmsman on the Sewol. He described a patient captain who would help crew members learn about parts of the ship they were not familiar with.

Park and Oh were both on the bridge with the captain as the ship was sinking.

Both wondered whether the captain's age or the fact that he crashed into a door on the bridge, possibly injuring himself, may have been why he left the ship when he did.

"The captain is very old," Oh said. "But he should have made sure that the crew could escape before he escaped."

Jang Ki-joon, director of the orthopaedic department at Jindo Hankook University, said he treated Lee after his rescue, and he had only light injuries. "Pain in the left rib and in the back, but that was it," he said.

He wore no crisp uniform, no epaulettes. He looked no different from passengers in a video of him being treated. At the time, Jang said, he had no idea Lee was the captain. Lee had said he feared passengers would be swept away by the ferocious currents if they leapt into the sea.

He has not explained why he left the vessel.

"The current was very strong, the temperature of the ocean water was cold, and I thought that if people left the ferry without [proper] judgment and if they were not wearing a life jacket - and even if they were - they would drift away and face many other difficulties," Lee told reporters. "The rescue boats had not arrived yet, nor were there any civilian fishing ships or other boats nearby at that time."

The transcript shows crew on the ship worried there were not enough rescue boats at the scene to take on all the passengers.

Witnesses said the captain and some crew took to rescue boats before the passengers.

Captain Lee and his surviving crew members have been pilloried in the media for abandoning the ship while hundreds were still trapped inside.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said their actions were "tantamount to murder".

She said: "The conduct of the captain and some crew members is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense. It was like an act of murder that cannot and should not be tolerated."

There has been particular criticism of Lee's decision to delay the evacuation order until the vessel was listing so sharply that escape was almost impossible.

Prosecutors have raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator Chonghaejin as part of an overall probe into corrupt management.

More than 70 executives and others connected with Chonghaejin and its affiliates have been handed 30-day travel bans while they are investigated on possible charges ranging from criminal negligence to embezzlement.

 

[PrivateEyes]

Caught on camera: The moment South Korean ferry captain abandoned ship, leaving students to die

PUBLISHED : Monday, 28 April, 2014, 11:47am
UPDATED : Monday, 28 April, 2014, 2:03pm

Agencies in Jindo, South Korea

Ferry captain Lee Joon-seok is shown climbing off the listing boat in footage released by the South Korean Coast Guard. This is the moment the captain of the sinking South Korean ferry clambers from the ship into the arms of rescuers, leaving hundreds of passengers onboard to drown.

Wearing just a sweater and underpants Lee Joon-seok scrabbles towards a rescue boat, clutching the sides of the listing ship, before stepping to the safety of a rescue craft.

The footage was released this morning by the South Korean Coast Guard.

Spokesman Kim Kyung-il said crew members had not revealed their identities to their rescuers as they were pulled from the ship.

The footage was released as divers again prepared to resume their desperate search for more than 100 bodies still trapped inside the Sewol, after a weekend hindered by bad weather, strong currents and floating debris clogging the ship’s rooms.

Officials said they have narrowed down the likely locations in the ship of most of the remaining missing passengers.

Lee Joon-seok clutches the sides of the listing ship.

The number of dead from the April 16 sinking is 188, with 114 people believed missing, though a government emergency task force has said the ship’s passengers list could be inaccurate. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members.

Senior coast guard officer Kim Su-hyeon said that most of the remaining missing passengers are believed to be in 64 of the ship’s 111 rooms.

Divers have entered 36 of those 64 rooms, coast guard officers said, but may need to go back into some because floating debris made it difficult for divers to be sure that there are no more dead bodies.

Ko Myung-seok, an official with the emergency task force, said Monday that 92 divers would search the ferry. He also said that the government was making plans to salvage the ferry once search efforts end but that details wouldn’t be available until officials talk with families of the victims.

On Sunday, South Korea’s prime minister resigned over the government’s handling of the sinking, blaming “deep-rooted evils” in society for the tragedy.

South Korean executive power is largely concentrated in the president, so Chung Hong-won’s resignation appears to be symbolic. Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said President Park Geun-hye would accept the resignation, but did not say when Chung would leave office.

Chung’s resignation comes amid rising indignation over claims by the victims’ relatives that the government did not do enough to rescue or protect their loved ones. Most of the dead and missing were high school students on a school trip.

Officials have taken into custody all 15 people involved in navigating the ferry Sewol, which sank April 16. The seven surviving crew members who have not been arrested or detained held non-marine jobs such as chef or steward, according to senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin.

The arrested crew members are accused of negligence and of failing to help passengers in need. Capt. Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and took half an hour to issue an evacuation order, by which time the ship was tilting too severely for many people to get out.

Lee Joon-seok has been widely criticised for leaving the boat before other passengers.

Lee told reporters after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for passengers’ safety in the cold, swift water.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it would soon change its ferry monitoring systems so that passenger, vehicle and cargo information is processed electronically. There is not only uncertainty about how many people were on the Sewol, but a huge discrepancy regarding the amount of cargo it was carrying when it sank.

The ferry was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo, according to an executive of the company that loaded it. That far exceeds what the captain claimed in paperwork — 150 cars and 657 tons of other cargo, according to the coast guard — and is more than three times what an inspector who examined the vessel during a redesign last year said it could safely carry.

Yang, the prosecutor, said that the cause of the sinking could be due to excessive veering, improper stowage of cargo, modifications made to the ship and tidal influence. He said investigators would determine the cause by consulting with experts and using simulations.

Yang said that a crew member called the ship’s owner, Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd., as the ferry was listing, but declined to disclose whether the caller was the captain. Local media reported that the captain called for company approval of an evacuation. Prosecutors said they are analyzing the content of communications between the ship and the company.

Students from Danwon High School in Ansan, a city near Seoul, make up more than 80 percent of the dead and missing; they had been on their way to the southern tourist island of Jeju.

 

[PrivateEyes]

Releasing full report into Lamma ferry tragedy a threat to justice, says Keith Yeung

DDP responds to outcry that full Lamma tragedy study is not being made public by saying the move could impede court cases

PUBLISHED : Monday, 28 April, 2014, 12:29pm
UPDATED : Monday, 28 April, 2014, 11:34pm

Stuart Lau [email protected]

Keith Yeung Kar-hung said the release of the full report was a "matter of timing" and it would eventually be disclosed. Photo: Nora Tam

The chief prosecutor has broken his silence to defend the government's refusal to release much of a report into the 2012 Lamma ferry tragedy, saying full disclosure may pose a "serious risk" to criminal justice.

The 430-page report could be made public after all criminal proceedings had ended, Director of Public Prosecutions Keith Yeung Kar-hung told lawmakers. "It is not the case that the report can never be disclosed," he said. "It is just a matter of timing."

Yeung gave his first public explanation for the Department of Justice's move to condense the report's 430 pages and 399 appendices into a 30-page summary for release last week. It followed a flurry of calls for transparency over the October 1, 2012, crash between two passenger vessels off Lamma that claimed 39 lives.

The public prosecutions director spoke at a meeting of the Legislative Council economic development panel on the report, a day after retired High Court judge William Waung Sik-ying asked the government for a full disclosure, citing "public interest".

Waung also floated the possibility of bereaved families seeking legal redress, which legal scholars said might force the government to hand the report to either the families or their legal representatives.

Yeung said his decision was "purely legally based", not taking into account possible civil lawsuits against the government as a result of the full release.

Grilled by lawmakers, he declined to say if the move did the families an injustice, as their right to seek redress would expire in September 2015 under local laws.

Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung would meet all families on May 15, Yeung said.

Secretary for Housing and Transport Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, who was also at the meeting, said he would discuss with Yuen the possibility of letting families read the report with a non-disclosure undertaking.

The ill-fated Lamma IV. Photo: SCMP

Yeung said the report was unlikely to be submitted to the courts as evidence because of stringent rules on admitting evidence. Therefore, it would be unfair to the trial if the jury could view what defendants had said in the report, he noted.

"I do not advise a full disclosure at this stage or else it poses a serious risk to any future criminal procedures," he said.

Yeung further cited Malaysian tycoon Lee Ming Tee, whose trial almost collapsed as two courts found he had been denied a fair trial by the publication of an excerpt of a government investigation report. Lee was eventually jailed for a year in 2004 for his role in inflating the true value of the Allied Group.

Yeung said the Court of Final Appeal let the prosecution proceed with the case - but criticised the handling of the report.

He cited the top court's judgment: "The notion that this was in aid of governmental transparency does not bear examination. Such transparency is laudable, but no one could reasonably suggest that it should be pursued at the risk of prejudicing a person's criminal trial on a serious charge. Publication could in any event have taken place after the trial."

The ferry report, compiled by the Transport and Housing Bureau, accuses 17 marine officials up to directorate level of misconduct. It found "suspected criminality" linked to the disaster and has been transferred to police for further investigation.

 

[SpaceTruckin]

South Korea ferry was ‘routinely overloaded’ with cargo

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 04 May, 2014, 1:57pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 04 May, 2014, 1:57pm

Associated Press in Incheon, South Korea

South Korean rescue helicopters fly over the ferry, trying to rescue passengers. The doomed ferry Sewol exceeded its cargo limit on 246 trips in the 13 months before it sank. Photo: AP

The doomed ferry Sewol exceeded its cargo limit on 246 trips - nearly every voyage it made in which it reported cargo - in the 13 months before it sank, according to documents that reveal the regulatory failures that allowed passengers by the hundreds to set off on an unsafe vessel. And it may have been more overloaded than ever on its final journey.

One private, industry-connected entity recorded the weights. Another set the weight limit. Neither appears to have had any idea what the other was doing. And they are but two parts of a maritime system that failed passengers on April 16 when the ferry sank, leaving more than 300 people missing or dead.

The disaster has exposed enormous safety gaps in South Korea’s monitoring of domestic passenger ships, which is in some ways less rigorous than its rules for ships that handle only cargo. Collectively, the country’s regulators held more than enough information to conclude that the Sewol was routinely overloaded, but because they did not share that data and were not required to do so, it was practically useless.

The Korean Register of Shipping examined the Sewol early last year as it was being redesigned to handle more passengers. The register slashed the ship’s cargo capacity by more than half, to 987 tons, and said the vessel needed to carry more than 2,000 tons of water to stay balanced.

Lee Joon-seok, centre, the captain of the sunken ferry boat Sewol. Photo: AP

But the register gave its report only to the ship owner, Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd. Neither the coast guard nor the Korean Shipping Association, which regulates and oversees departures and arrivals of domestic passenger ships, appear to have had any knowledge of the new limit before the disaster.

“That’s a blind spot in the law,” said Lee Kyu-yeul, professor emeritus at Seoul National University’s Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering.

Chonghaejin reported much greater cargo capacity to the shipping association: 3,963 tons, according to a coast guard official in Incheon who had access to the documentation but declined to release it.

Since the redesigned ferry began operating in March last year, it made nearly 200 round trips - 394 individual voyages - from Incheon port near Seoul to the southern island of Jeju. On 246 of those voyages, the Sewol exceeded the 987-ton limit, according to documents from Incheon port.

The limit may have been exceeded even more frequently than that. In all but one of the other 148 trips, zero cargo was recorded. It is not mandatory for passenger ferries to report cargo to the port operator, which gathers the information to compile statistics and not for safety purposes.

More than 2,000 tons of cargo was reported on 136 of the Sewol’s trips, and it topped 3,000 tons 12 times. But the records indicate it never carried as much as it did on its final disastrous voyage: Moon Ki-han, a vice president at Union Transport Co, the company that loaded the ship, has said it was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo.

Relatives of passengers aboard the sunken ferry Sewol weep as they pay tribute to the victim. Photo: AP

The port operator has no record of the cargo from the Sewol’s last voyage. Ferry operators submit that information only after trips are completed. In that respect, the rules for domestic passenger ships are looser than those for cargo-only vessels, which must report cargo before they depart.

Details from the port documents were first reported by the South Korean newspaper Kukmin Daily.

In paperwork filed before the Sewol’s last voyage, Captain Lee Joon-seok reported a much smaller final load than the one Moon described, according to a Coast Guard official who had access to the report but refused to provide a copy to the Associated Press. The paperwork said the Sewol was loaded with 150 cars and 657 tons of cargo.

That would fall within the 987-ton limit, but it’s clearly inaccurate: The coast guard has found 180 cars in the water.

An official with the Korea Shipping Association’s safety team said it is beyond the association’s capacity to determine whether a ship is carrying too much cargo. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to discuss the Sewol case as it is being investigated.

“What we can do is to see the load line is not submerged,” he said. The load line, a marking on the outside of a vessel, indicates whether a ship is overloaded, but it does not show whether it has the sort of balance between cargo and ballast that the register report said was necessary.

“The only person on any vessel who knows the exact cargo safety limit, excluding ballast water, fuel, passengers and others, is the first mate,” the official said.

All 15 surviving crew members involved in the ferry’s navigation have been arrested, accused of negligence and failing to protect passengers. Prosecutors also detained three employees of the ferry owner who handled cargo, and have raided the offices of the ship owner, the shipping association and the register. Heads of the shipping association and the register offered to resign in the wake of the disaster.

The cause of the sinking remains under investigation, but experts have said that if the ship were severely overloaded, even a small turn could cause it to lose its balance. Tracking data show the ship made a 45-degree turn around the time it began sinking; crew members have reportedly said that something went wrong with the steering as they attempted a much less severe turn.

Some experts say the Sewol never should have been cleared to operate after last year’s redesign because the owner would not be able to make money under the register’s new cargo limits.

The ferry operator “was trying to make a profit by overloading cargos,” said Kim Gil-soo, a professor at Korea Maritime and Ocean University in Busan, “and public agencies that should have monitored did not monitor that.”

According to South Korean law, the association may report violations to either the coast guard or the state-run port operator, but both entities said they were never told of excessive cargo on the Sewol. The shipping association has refused to say how often it has reported violations.

A coast guard official said the shipping association should have reported any excessive cargo to the operator of Incheon port, where the Sewol last departed. An official with the port operator says it is the coast guard that should have been alerted. The coast guard official spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorised to speak about matters under investigation; the port official refused to provide his name.

South Korea, unlike many other countries, relies on a private industry-affiliated body to determine whether a ship is safe to sail. The shipping association, whose members are shipping companies and ship operators, took on that responsibility in 1973, following a 1970 sinking in which about 320 people died.

Captains submit paperwork to the association indicating how much cargo is on board as well as crew and passengers.

The shipping association, which also oversees crew education, is partly government-funded, but its biggest business is selling insurance to its members.

Its website says about 75 per cent of its 110 billion won (HK$827 million) budget for this year was allocated to its insurance department. The budget for the department dealing with domestic passenger ship safety was 7.4 billion won. The association has 71 safety inspectors at 13 South Korean ports and its headquarters.

Many of the association’s high-level officials come from the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries, which some say makes it tough for the ministry to scrutinise the group. Ministry officials may be reluctant to question association officials who are former senior public servants, or even their former bosses.

The register, which made the cargo limit evaluation, also is a private entity.

In Europe, North America and Japan, regulation is generally done by public bodies such as the US Coast Guard and the UK’s Maritime and Coastal Agency. In Japan, the government checks ships once a year, and conducts unannounced inspections of crew qualification and emergency training.

At the same time, it’s common for governments to rely on ship captains to report their loads accurately. It would be virtually impossible to check every boat, experts say.

Since the Sewol disaster, the oceans ministry has been considering taking the job of overseeing passenger-ship safety away from the shipping association, ministry official Kwon Jun-young said. Kwon said they are discussing which agency or agencies should take up on the job.

 

[SpaceTruckin]

Divers find more bodies in Korean ferry, amid fears others have drifted away

Further eight bodies recovered, but fears grow others have drifted away

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 04 May, 2014, 6:16am
UPDATED : Sunday, 04 May, 2014, 10:58am

Associated Press in Seoul

Weeping women pay tribute to the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster at a memorial site in Ansan yesterday. Photo: AP

Eight more bodies were recovered yesterday from the ferry that sank off South Korea last month, reports said, amid concern some of the missing may never be found.

Seventeen days after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank, 236 people have been confirmed dead with 66 still unaccounted for, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Divers battled strong currents yesterday to search unopened rooms in the sunken ferry for missing passengers. Emergency task force spokesman Ko Myung-seok said 58 out of 64 target areas had been searched.

"It took a while to develop routes, but after the routes were developed to some degree, opening up the rooms and getting inside worked out in a short period of time," Ko said.

The bodies of 236 victims have been retrieved, with 195 found inside the ferry and 41 found floating in the sea.

Park Seung-ki, spokesman for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said bedding materials from the ship were found as far as 30 kilometres from the disaster site on Friday.

As days go by, personal belongings and debris from the ship have been spotted further and further away, fuelling concerns that strong currents may have swept some bodies into the open sea. As a precaution, recovery workers put rings of netting around the site days ago.

The relatives of the missing are insisting that all the bodies be recovered before efforts begin to raise the ferry. Park said families were worried about the condition of the bodies, since so much time had passed.

"To ease the families' mental pain and help them keep better memories of the victims, the government will provide restoration services for damaged bodies."

Rescuers in the first days of the search for victims of the sinking. Photo: AP

The Sewol capsized on April 16 with 476 people on board - more than 300 of them pupils from Danwon High School in Ansan, just south of Seoul.

It was one of South Korea's worst peacetime disasters, with greed and irresponsibility being blamed for the poor handling of the catastrophe.

The captain and 14 of his crew have been arrested for being the first to leave the ship, without helping all passengers to safety.

The Sewol's usual captain, who was off duty on the day of the accident, has told prosecutors that the ferry operator - Chonghaejin Marine - "brushed aside" repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a 2012 renovation.

Two Chonghaejin officials were arrested on Friday on charges of having the ferry overloaded well beyond its legal limit.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

 

[SpaceTruckin]

Diver dies during search for bodies in South Korea's sunken ferry

Diver is declared dead after losing consciousness underwater as Improved weather and easing currents assist in search for bodies in the sunken ferry Sewol

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 06 May, 2014, 9:27am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 06 May, 2014, 10:15am

Associated Press in South Korea

South Korean President Park Geun-hye talks with divers at the site where the Sewol sank. Photo: AP

A civilian diver involved in searches for dozens of missing people from the South Korean ferry disaster died on Tuesday, as other divers helped by better weather and easing ocean currents were picking up efforts to retrieve more bodies from the sunken ship.

The Sewol carried 476 people, most of them students from a single high school near Seoul, when it sank off South Korea’s southern coast on April 16. Only 174 survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members. The sinking left more than 260 people dead, with about 40 others still missing.

On Tuesday, one civilian diver died at a hospital after becoming unconscious, government task force spokesman Ko Myung-seok said in a statement. He is the first fatality among divers mobilised following the ferry’s sinking, according to the coast guard.

The 53-year-old diver was pulled to the surface by fellow divers after losing communication about five minutes after he began underwater searches, Ko said. It was his first search attempt, Ko added.

In searching for the missing, divers have been working their way into the last three unopened rooms, next to a snack bar on the ferry’s third floor, Ko earlier told reporters.

Children pay tribute to the victims of the sunken ferry Sewol at a group memorial altar in Seoul. Photo: AP

He said the search team does not expect to find many bodies in those rooms as they were not assigned to the high school students who made up most of the ferry’s passengers. The divers will revisit areas searched earlier, while checking other areas such as bathrooms on each floor, looking for more victims. Darkness, floating debris and the maze of corridors and cabins onboard have made the search difficult.

Investigators have also made their first arrests of people who were not on board the Sewol when it sank. The three people arrested are suspected of negligence in their handling of cargo on the vessel.

In all, 19 people have been arrested in the investigation, 15 of them crew members accused of abandoning passengers. An executive with ties to Chonghaejin, the company that owns the ferry, was arrested on suspicion of malpractice related to company finances.

Improper stowage and overloading of cargo is suspected as a possible reason the ferry sank. The ferry was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo, more than three times what it could safely carry. A ferry loaded too heavily could lose its balance making even a small turn.

The sinking has caused national grief. As of Sunday 1.1 million people had paid respects at 131 memorial altars around the nation, according to a governmental funeral support committee set up for the ferry victims. Tuesday was a national holiday in South Korea for Buddha’s Birthday, and more people are expected to visit those mourning stations.

Monday was also a holiday for Children’s Day, but various events were cancelled or postponed because of the ferry’s sinking. The Sejong Centre for the Performing Arts, run by the Seoul city office, cancelled a handful of outdoor events and music festivals on the holiday.

 

[SpaceTruckin]

South Korean ferry disaster company's licence to be revoked

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 08 May, 2014, 2:33pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 08 May, 2014, 10:48pm

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

Policemen in Seoul detain student protesters calling for President Park Geun-hye to resign over the Sewol ferry disaster. Photo: EPA

Ferry company chief Kim Han-sik is paraded to media. Photo: AFP

South Korea is to revoke the licence of the company which owns the ferry that sank with the loss of around 300 lives last month, as prosecutors prepare manslaughter charges against its chief executive.

Kim Han-sik, head of Chonghaejin Marine, was arrested at his home south of Seoul yesterday and taken into custody in the southwestern port city of Mokpo.

"Kim faces various charges including manslaughter and violating maritime law," senior prosecutor Yang Jong-jin said.

The charges stem from allegations that Kim was involved in, or turned a blind eye to, the overloading of the Sewol's cargo consignment - seen as a major contributing factor to its capsize on April 16.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it planned to close down Chonghaejin's ferry operations entirely.

In a statement, the ministry said it would begin by revoking the company's licence to operate the route taken by the Sewol from the western port of Incheon to the southern island of Jeju.

At the same time it would pressure the owners to give up the licences to its two other routes between the mainland and outlying islands.

"The name of Chonghaejin Marine Co will never be allowed to darken the ferry industry again," a ministry spokesman said.

Handcuffed and wearing a cap and surgical mask that hid his face, Kim was paraded before television cameras after he was detained.

"I apologise to the victims and the families," he said. He then refused to answer further questions from reporters, staying silent with his head bowed.

The captain of the Sewol ferry has already been arrested along with 14 crew members and four lower-ranking Chonghaejin Marine officials.

The ferry had 476 people on board when it sank after listing sharply to one side and then rolling over. Initial investigations suggest it was carrying up to three times its safe cargo capacity.

The confirmed death toll stood at 269 yesterday, with 35 people still unaccounted for.

Ko Myung-sok, spokesman for the federal disaster force, said operations to recover the remaining bodies had been repeatedly suspended because of treacherous conditions at sea.

"So far, 24 divers have been treated for injuries and decompression sickness," Ko said.

The death of a diver on Tuesday has fuelled debate as to how long the recovery operation should continue. The deciding factor so far has been the sensitivities of the relatives of those still unaccounted for.

The coastguard has promised that the giant floating cranes to be used in the salvage operation will only be brought in once all the bodies trapped in the submerged ship have been retrieved.

But with some bodies being recovered several kilometres away in the past week, it is unclear how many remain trapped.

 

[DefJam]

Families of South Korea ferry dead march on presidential palace

Grieving parents and relatives of the students who lost their lives in the sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol march on the presidential Blue House in Seoul

PUBLISHED : Friday, 09 May, 2014, 9:40am
UPDATED : Friday, 09 May, 2014, 6:18pm

Reuters in Seoul

Watch: Korea ferry victims' parents demand meeting with president

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/osApw7lO9JM?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>

Parents of students killed when a passenger ferry sank last month led a sombre march on South Korea’s presidential palace in the early hours of Friday morning, where they demanded to meet with President Park Geun-hye.

Clutching memorial portraits of their children, family members and grieving parents were prevented by riot police from nearing the palace, and instead sat in the middle of the road where they sobbed, wailed and shouted in anger.

“Listen to us, President Park. Just give us ten seconds,” one family member said, using a portable address system. “Why are you blocking the way?” said another. “President Park hear our voices!”

Parents holding portraits of their children who died on sunken passenger ship Sewol march towards the Presidential Blue House in Seoul on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Seated on the ground in the middle of the night, they wore beige blankets and huddled in rows on the cold floor. One mother, overcome with grief, quietly sobbed as she stroked a portrait of her dead son.

Park’s government has faced continued criticism for its handling of the disaster from the families of the ferry victims, many of whom believe a faster initial response could have saved many more lives.

South Korean prosecutors are seeking the arrest of members of the family that owns the ferry operator, and may also seek the extradition of a son of the reclusive head of the family from the United States, an official said on Thursday.

The Sewol, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn, capsized and sank about 20 kilometres off the southwest coast on a routine journey from Incheon on the mainland to the southern holiday island of Jeju, killing hundreds of children and teachers on a high school outing.

The protesting parents occupy a road leading to the presidential palace. Photo: Reuters

Only 172 people were rescued and the remainder are presumed to have drowned. An estimated 476 passengers and crew were on board.

However, some of the crew, including the captain were caught on videotape abandoning ship while the children were told numerous times to stay put in their cabins where they awaited further orders.

They paid for their obedience with their lives.

Heartbreaking new video released by families on the march showed students laughing as they tried, and failed, to scramble up a vertical floor.

Earlier footage recovered from the students’ mobile phones shows them playing around as the ship started listing, even joking about the sinking of the Titanic, when they had plenty of time to jump overboard.

Only two of the vessel’s 46 lifeboats were deployed.

The prosecutors’ pursuit of a son and a daughter of Yoo Byung-un, the head of the family that owns Chonghaejin Marine, the ferry operator, broadens the criminal investigation into the tragedy. The government has also started the process of stripping the company of its licence to operate ferries.

It was not clear whether Yoo Byung-un, who ran the defunct commercial empire that was the precursor to the sprawling business interests that include Chonghaejin, might be called in for questioning.

Yoo’s son Hyuck-ki, who is believed to be in the United States, has failed three times to respond to a prosecution summons, an official said. Other aides to Yoo are also believed to be abroad and have ignored summonses.

“Since it is an important issue that has drawn public attention, we will do our best [to ensure] their attendance and forcible extradition,” said Kim Hoe-jong, second deputy chief prosecutor at Incheon District Prosecution Service.

A woman weeps as she pays tribute to the victims and missing passengers of the sunken ferry Sewol during a rally to mark Parents Day in Seoul. Photo: AP

Prosecutors arrested several officials of the ferry operator and its affiliates, including Chonghaejin’s chief executive, on charges of negligence causing death and the sinking of a vessel on Thursday.

All 15 of the surviving crew members, including the 69-year-old captain, have been arrested and face charges of gross negligence amid accusations they abandoned the vessel without performing emergency escape procedures.

Yoo’s sons, Yoo Hyuck-ki and Yoo Dae-kyun, are majority owners of Chonghaejin Marine through an investment vehicle.

The prosecution is working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security for possible extradition of Yoo Hyuck-ki, the prosecutor said.

Prosecutors have also raided the shipping company’s offices and financial regulators are investigating borrowings of the company and of businesses that are part of a wider holding firm.

Son Byoung-gi, a lawyer who has spoken for the family previously, did not immediately comment.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy and one of its leading manufacturing and export powerhouses, has developed into one of the world’s most technically advanced countries, but faces criticism that regulatory controls have not kept pace.

Nearly 450,000 people have paid tribute to the victims at the altar set up near the school many of the children attended.

 

[Awake]

Divers retrieve more bodies in South Korea ferry disaster bringing death toll to 275

Two more bodies pulled from the wreck of the Sewol as divers battle deteriorating conditions within the inverted vessel and worsening weather

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 10 May, 2014, 1:51pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 10 May, 2014, 1:59pm

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

High school students hold candles during a rally to pay tribute to the victims and missing passengers of the sunken ferry Sewol in Ansan, South Korea on Friday. Photo: AP

Divers have retrieved two more bodies from the wreck of the South Korean ferry that sank last month, as conditions on the ship further deteriorated, officials said on Saturday.

The bodies were found late on Friday in the inverted, submerged ship, bringing the confirmed death toll from the April 16 disaster to 275, coastguard spokesman Ko Myung-suk told journalists. Twenty nine are still unaccounted for.

Divers have now swept through most of the ship, which is resting on its side at a depth of more than 40 metres off the country’s southern coast.

But as days go by, they are retrieving fewer and fewer bodies.

The divers have also reported that partition walls on the ship have started warping and are at risk of collapsing, which would further complicate their work, a government task force said in a statement.

The divers have been under immense pressure from the authorities and the victims’ families to retrieve all the trapped bodies as quickly as possible.

Weather conditions at the site of the sunken ferry were deteriorating on Saturday, reports said. Photo: AFP

They face enormous hazards and challenges, including near-zero visibility, strong currents and often treacherous weather conditions.

A storm warning was likely to be raised later on Saturday, Ko said.

“But the government will push through with the search operations”, he said.

The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank after listing sharply to one side.

Of those on board, 325 were children from a high school in Ansan City in the southern suburbs of Seoul who were on an organised trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

Initial investigations suggest the ferry was carrying up to three times its safe cargo capacity.

The ferry had been habitually overloaded, investigators said.

The Sewol’s regular captain, who was off duty on the day of the accident, has told prosecutors that the ferry operator – Chonghaejin Marine – “brushed aside” repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a renovation in 2012.

A court warrant was issued late on Friday to arrest the head of Chonghaejin, Kim Han-sik, Prosecutor Yang Jong-jin told reporters on Saturday.

He faces charges of manslaughter through negligence and breaches of vessel safety laws, Yonhap news agency said.

The latest move brought to five the number of Chonghaejin officials arrested over the disaster.

Meanwhile, there has been no let-up in nationwide mourning over the catastrophe. The government said more than 1.65 million people had paid their respects at memorial places across the country since the mourning period began.

At a public park in Ansan, a focal point of national mourning, some 2,000 students from various high schools in the city held a candlelit vigil on Friday night for the victims, with yellow ribbons tied to their arms.

 

[DefJam]

Four crew members of South Korea ferry indicted for manslaughter

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 15 May, 2014, 10:50am
UPDATED : Thursday, 15 May, 2014, 3:52pm

Agencies in Mokpo and Seoul

Crew members of the sunken ferry Sewol outside court last month. South Korean prosecutors indicted on Thursday four crew members of the ferry for manslaughter. Photo: AP

South Korean prosecutors indicted on Thursday four crew members of a ferry that capsized in April killing more than 280 passengers for manslaughter, a senior prosecutor said.

The captain and three other crew members were indicted on charges of manslaughter through gross negligence, Yonhap news agency reported.

They are accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers, mostly high school students on a school excursion, to stay where they were.

If convicted, they could face the death sentence, according to the Supreme Court, though no one has been executed in South Korea since 1997.

South Korean rescue team boats and fishing boats try to rescue passengers of the sinking ferry Sewol. Photo: AP

The prosecution also indicted all 11 other surviving crew members of the Sewol for negligence. The crew has been under criminal investigations after they were believed to have escaped the sinking vessel before many of the passengers.

“The captain, a first officer and second officer and the chief engineer escaped before the passengers leading to grave casualties,” prosecutor Ahn Sang-don, who is leading the investigation, told a news briefing.
The captain, a first officer and second officer and the chief engineer escaped before the passengers leading to grave casualties
Prosecutor Ahn Sang-don

Captain Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their cabins and took about half an hour to issue an evacuation order but it’s not known if his message was ever conveyed to passengers. In a video taken by the coast guard, he was seen escaping the ferry in his underwear to a rescue boat while many passengers were still in the sinking ship.

Lee told reporters after his arrest last month that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for the passengers’ safety in the cold, swift water.

South Korean ferry captain Lee Joon-Seok is seen being rescued from the tilting vessel before it sank. Photo: AFP

The Sewol, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn, capsized and sank on April 16 on a routine journey from the mainland port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju.

Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and their teachers on a school trip. Only 172 people were rescued, with the remainder presumed to have drowned.

"The captain should have been in command of the navigation, but left that to a third officer, and that is gross negligence," Ahn said, adding there was enough evidence to support a charge of willful negligence on the part of the captain and three other officers.

"The charge of homicide was applied because they did not exercise their duty of aid and relief, leading to the deaths of passengers," he said, adding that some crew had confessed "they were thinking about their own lives."

Coastguard spokesman Ko Myung-Suk said on Thursday that a further five bodies were retrieved late on Wednesday, including one found floating on the surface.

High school students hold candles to pay tribute to the victims and missing passengers of the sunken ferry. Photo: AP

The confirmed death toll now stands at 281, with 23 still missing, even as rescue divers continue to search the vessel.

The government of President Park Geun-hye has faced sharp criticism for its handling of the disaster and the rescue operation, with an outpouring of anger over suggestions that a more effective initial response could have saved many more lives.

Prosecutors are seeking the arrest of members of the family that owns the ferry operator, and may also seek the extradition of a son of the reclusive head of the family from the United States, an official said on Thursday.

South Korea’s parliament is to open an investigation into the ferry disaster, as the government counters criticism of its handling of the tragedy.

Kim Han-sik, president of Chonghaejin Marine Co, which owns the sunken ferry. Photo: AP

A special parliamentary session was due to open this week dedicated to confirming the cause of and responsibility for the sinking of the Sewol.

Victims’ families have been extremely critical of nearly every aspect of the government’s handling of the disaster, and had demanded a government investigation in addition to the police’s efforts.

They want explanations for perceived delays in the initial rescue effort, and are calling for those they believe responsible to be punished.

The Sewol’s regular captain, who was off duty on the day of the accident, has told prosecutors that the ferry operator - Chonghaejin Marine Co - “brushed aside” repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a renovation in 2012.

Five Chonghaejin officials, including the company’s head, have been arrested on various charges including manslaughter, negligence and breaches of vessel safety laws.

While the captain and most of the crew have been widely vilified for leaving trapped passengers to die, South Korea has recognised three part-time crew members who died saving others in the ferry capsize as national “martyrs” - lending a heroic chapter to a disaster narrative dominated by accusations of cowardice, corruption and incompetence.

All three were part-time crew members, including an engaged couple - Kim Ki-woong and Jung Hyun-seon - who could have escaped the sinking vessel but stayed behind to help trapped passengers.

The third was Park Ji-young, 21, the youngest crew member, who became a public hero after it emerged that she had given her life jacket to a passenger as she sought to guide people to safety.

Being designated martyrs entitles them to burial at a national cemetery, and their families will be eligible for financial compensation, medical assistance and other incentives.

The sinking, one of the deadliest disasters in South Korean history, has triggered an outpouring of national grief. More than 1.8 million people have paid their respects at makeshift mourning stations across the country. The government also has been under mounting public criticism for its handling of the disaster.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Police to Raid Compound Unless Ferry Owner Surrenders

chosun.com / May 20, 2014 09:33 KST

A cult follower sets up a webcam on Monday to monitor police movements at the entrance of a compound owned by the sect led by ferry owner Yoo Byung-eon.

A judge will decide on Tuesday afternoon whether to issue an arrest warrant for Yoo Byung-eon, the de-facto owner of ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine, after he failed to respond to a summons by prosecutors.

Police are on standby to raid a compound owned by a cult led by Yoo south of Seoul if the warrant is approved. Cult followers have formed a human barricade around the compound where he is believed to be hiding.

Tensions mounted at noon on Monday, when around 50 police appeared at the gate of the compound. Kim Choon-sub of Gyeonggi police said officers were merely inspecting the facility while a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Cult followers continued to blockade the entrance after police left.

On Monday evening, some 20 investigators raided Yoo's summer home a short distance away after being tipped off that he was hiding there but found it empty.

 

[Optimus Prime]

W20 Billion of Ferry Owner's Properties Seized

chosun.com / May 20, 2014 09:36 KST

Prosecutors have seized nine properties of ferry owner Yoo Byung-eon in the course of an extensive investigation of the companies associated with the disaster off the southwest coast last month.

In conjunction with the National Tax Service, prosecutors have begun the process of freezing the assets of Yoo and his family, who face the responsibility of compensating the victims of the April 16 sinking as well as charges of embezzlement and tax evasion.

Some of the properties in Seoul and in Daegu owned by ferry owner and part-time cult leader Yoo Byung-eon

President Park Geun-hye in a nationally televised address on Monday pledged to confiscate all assets that were amassed at the expense of public safety and use them to compensate the victims.

The NTS applied for court approval to seize Yoo's assets, including three plots of land in southern Seoul and several buildings. The court immediately approved the request.

The properties have all been registered in the name of Yoo's eldest son Dae-gyun (44) and are worth an estimated W20 billion (US$1=W1,022).

 

[Yazoo]

South Korea president calls fugitive shipping family the 'root cause' of ferry tragedy

Bounty for missing family members increased to US$500,000

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 27 May, 2014, 4:14pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 27 May, 2014, 4:17pm

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

A TV news programme shows the reward poster of Yoo Byung-eun, the patriarch of the family operating the ferry company. Photo: AP

South Korean President Park Geun-hye today denounced fugitive members of the ship-owning family linked to last month’s ferry disaster, calling them the “root cause” of the tragedy that claimed around 300 lives.

The government has offered a US$50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Yoo Byung-eun, patriarch of the family behind Chonghaejin Marine Company.

Chonghaejin owned and operated the 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry that capsized and sank on April 16 with hundreds of high school students on board.

Yoo and his eldest son have become the targets of a massive manhunt after they ignored prosecutors’ summons to surrender themselves for questioning.

Initial investigations suggest that lax safety standards and negligent business practices may have been a major contributor to the disaster.

“The Yoo Byung-eun family, the root cause of the tragedy, is flouting the law and causing public fury at a time when it should repent in front of people and reveal the truth,” Park told a meeting of her cabinet.

“This is an absolutely unpardonable criminal act,” she said.

Yoo has no direct stake in Chonghaejin, but his children and close aides control it through a complex web of holding companies.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye talks to search and rescue divers days after the passenger ship Sewol sank. Photo: Reuters

Prosecutors had offered an initial reward of US$50,000 for information on Yoo’s whereabouts, but upped the figure to US$500,000 yesterday after days of fruitless searching.

Five Chonghaejin officials have already been arrested and a lesser reward of 100 million won (HK$756,000) has been offered for Yoo’s eldest son, Yoo Dae-kyun.

In the wake of the Sewol tragedy, President Park has had to contend with widespread public criticism of the rescue effort and lax regulatory oversight.

In a tearful address to the nation last week, she accepted personal responsibility and announced she would dismantle the coastguard in an overhaul of the national emergency response system.

Park has been very outspoken in her own criticism of the ferry’s captain and surviving crew members, saying their decision to abandon ship while hundreds were still trapped was “tantamount to murder”.

“We hope the bigger cash reward will lead to his quick arrest,” senior prosecutor Kim Hoe-jong said yesterday.

Last week, investigators raided a compound belonging to the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, of which Yoo is a leading member, but failed to find him.

Yoo has described himself as an artist and photographer and was once convicted of fraud when a company under his control went bankrupt.

 

[Jar Jar Binks]

Daughter of fugitive Korean ferry tycoon arrested in France

AFP
May 28, 2014, 8:34 pm

Paris (AFP) - The daughter of a fugitive Korean tycoon accused of being responsible for last month's ferry disaster has been arrested in France and will appear before a judge Wednesday, judicial sources told AFP.

Yoo Som-Na, 47, was arrested Tuesday at her Paris residence under an international arrest warrant issued in connection with the investigation into a disaster that claimed around 300 lives, most of them schoolchildren.

A judge will decide later on Wednesday whether she should be detained in custody pending a decision on whether to extradite her to South Korea, which could take several months or longer if she contests it.

Yoo Som-Na is the daughter of Yoo Byung-Eun, the head of the family which controls Chonghaejin Marine Co., the company which owned and operated the Sewol ferry that capsized and sunk on April 16 with hundreds of high-school students on board.

Yoo and his eldest son Yoo Dae-Kyun are being hunted by Korean authorities who suspect breaches of legal safety standards may have led to a tragedy that moved the whole world.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday denounced fugitive members of the family as the "root cause" of the disaster. The government has offered a half-million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of the father and 100,000 dollars for Yoo Dae-Kyun.

Korean prosecutors want to question the two men, Yoo Som-Na and another son who lives in the United States in connection with possible charges of embezzlement, tax fraud and criminal negligence.

Yoo has no direct stake in Chonghaejin, but his children and close aides control it through a complex web of holding companies.

 

[IeyasuTokugawa]

Ferry Owner's Daughter Claims She Is Victim of Witch Hunt

chosun.com / May 30, 2014 09:38 KST

The high-profile lawyer hired by Yoo Sum-na, the eldest daughter of fugitive ferry owner Yoo Byun-eon, has told French reporters she is the victim of a witch hunt in connection with the ferry disaster on April 16.

Yoo Sum-na was arrested in Paris earlier this week following an extradition request from the Korean government.

Patrick Maisonneuve

Patrick Maisonneuve in a press interview said Yoo is a "sacrificial lamb" for the deadly ferry disaster that killed more than 300 passengers.

He claimed she is innocent of embezzlement charges that are the ostensible reason for her arrest, saying she only gained control of an affiliate of ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine in 2008, four years after the alleged wrongdoings took place.

Maisonneuve, who began his legal practice in 1979, has become famous for taking on widely reviled high-profile clients that other lawyers have shunned.

 

[IeyasuTokugawa]

Ferry Owner Continues to Evade Capture

chosun.com / May 30, 2014 09:23 KST

There has been no progress in finding ferry owner Yoo Byung-eon or his family since he slipped a widening dragnet from a private home in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province five days ago.

Several fanatical followers of his cult have been arrested for aiding and abetting their escape, but except for a daughter caught in France not a single member of his family has been found.

The Incheon District Prosecutor's Office has focused its search around Suncheon and bolstered patrols around a compound owned by Yoo's sect south of Seoul in case he returns.

But eight cult followers who were arrested for helping him flee have clammed up under questioning. Prosecutors were confident Yoo would be unable to stay on the lam for long since he is in his 70s and his credit cards and mobile phone have been canceled.

A prosecution official said, "Yoo's followers are literally kicking and screaming as they refuse to give up any information on where he may be hiding." The official added, "They seem to have been trained to resist attempts to pry any information from them."

Prosecutors believe they have gotten hold of all of Yoo's close confidants except a 56-year-old man living in South Jeolla Province who is apparently driving the fugitive around in a Hyundai Sonata with local license plates.

 

[SoleSurvivor]

Fugitive South Korean businessman wanted over ferry tragedy fails to secure asylum

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 03 June, 2014, 3:56pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 03 June, 2014, 4:19pm

Reuters in Seoul

A man watches a TV news programme on the reward poster of Yoo Byung-un in Seoul. Photo: AP

A South Korean businessman and Christian sect leader, wanted on charges tied to a ferry disaster in which more than 300 passengers drowned, sought asylum at a Seoul embassy but was rejected, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Yoo Byung-un, 73, is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from his control of a web of business interests centred on an investment firm owned by his sons that owned the operator of the doomed Sewol that sank on April 16.

“By international law, Yoo Byung-un is not a refugee but is a fugitive with an arrest warrant outstanding, so anyone who helps him flee will be deemed to be aiding his escape and will be firmly punished,” a prosecutor said.

A person acting for Yoo contacted an embassy and asked about the possibility of Yoo seeking political asylum, he said.

Protesters mourning the tragic sinking of the Sewol passenger ferry march through the streets of downtown Seoul. Photo: EPA

He was turned down. Prosecutors declined to disclose which embassy was contacted by Yoo’s representative, or if there were others.

The Sewol, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn, capsized and sank on a routine journey from Incheon on the mainland to the vacation island of Jeju.

Most of the 476 passengers were children and teachers from the same school on the outskirts of Seoul. Divers are searching for 16 missing bodies.

The captain and surviving crew members were caught on video escaping the sinking ship while the children, wearing life jackets, stayed put in their cabins, as they had been told, awaiting further orders.

Authorities have offered a reward of half a million dollars for information leading to Yoo’s arrest but he and his first son have eluded a massive manhunt that included a search of a religious commune south of Seoul where Yoo once had a photography studio. The second son is in the United States.

South Korean coast guard officers rescue ferry Sewol captain Lee Joon-seok. Photo: AP

Prosecutors believe the Yoos are responsible for business decisions related to the renovation of the ferry and its operation that led to the country’s worst maritime disaster in 20 years.

All 15 surviving crew members of the Sewol have been charged. The captain and three senior crew members face homicide charges. Nine crew were indicted for negligence and two on the lesser charge of abandoning the vessel.

 

[IeyasuTokugawa]

Polls let S. Koreans deliver verdict on ferry tragedy

AFP
June 4, 2014, 5:21 am

Seoul (AFP) - South Koreans vote Wednesday in nationwide local elections seen as a spot referendum on President Park Geun-Hye's handling of the April ferry disaster that killed about 300 people, mostly schoolchildren.

Park's administration has been sharply criticised for its response to the tragedy and the polls provide the first real opportunity to measure just how serious the political impact has been.

"The disaster changed the campaign picture completely," said Choi Jin, head of the Institute of Presidential Leadership.

"Other issues have largely been swept aside and the real question has become about defending Park or holding her to account," Choi said.

The high popularity ratings Park has enjoyed since taking in office in February 2013 have been hammered by the disaster, which has become the defining moment of her presidency so far.

The investigation into the sinking of the 6,825-tonne Sewol on April 16 exposed a culture of institutional negligence, greed and incompetence that contributed to the scale of the tragedy.

Although these problems have roots stretching back decades, Park and her ruling conservative Saenuri Party have become a focus for much of the public grief and anti-establishment anger.

As a result, Wednesday's elections for 17 new provincial governors and municipal mayors, as well as numerous local councils, have taken on the trappings of a referendum.

"Local election boils down to judgement of Park," ran Tuesday's front-page headline in the conservative Chosun Ilbo -- the country's highest-circulation daily.

Politics in South Korea, and especially local politics, have a strong regional bias, with ingrained support for certain parties that rule out any major shift in the national political landscape.

But the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) is hoping that dissatisfaction with the Saenuri Party will translate into victories in a number of key mayoral and gubernatorial races.

And its strategy has been to unashamedly place the ferry tragedy at the heart of its campaign.

"If people don't act, the ship called the Republic of Korea will sink just like the Sewol did," NPAD leader Kim Han-Gil said Tuesday.

"The irresponsible Saenuri Party is only interested in protecting the president, not the South Korean people. And people will punish them with their votes," Kim added.

- Economic hit -

Fuelling the NPAD's hopes, the disaster has already buffeted South Korea's "miracle" economy with consumers abstaining from dining out, drinking and shopping in their usual numbers as a sense of national grief takes hold.

Opinion polls suggest the party's strategy is paying off.

In the most high-profile contest of the election -- the race for Seoul mayor -- the popular incumbent Park Won-Soon has seen his lead over Saenuri rival Chung Mong-Joon widen into double figures following the Sewol disaster.

President Park's predecessor, Lee Myung-Bak, was a former Seoul mayor and there is speculation that whoever wins Wednesday's vote in the capital will use the position to set up a presidential run in 2017.

South Korea's second largest city Busan has always returned a conservative mayor, but this time around the Saenuri candidate, Suh Byung-Soo, is facing a serious challenge from an opposition-backed independent.

"All candidates from the party, including myself, feel deep guilt and responsibility for being unable to save the children on the Sewol," Suh said Tuesday in a final appeal to voters.

"But citizens of Busan, you made Park the president. Please help wipe away the tears she shed in the wake of the Sewol sinking," Suh said.

His plea referenced a televised address Park made to the nation last month, in which she tearfully accepted responsibility for the mishandling of the disaster.

At the end of her emotional speech, Park argued that, for all the trauma inflicted by the sinking, the time had come to "leave frustration behind and move forward."

The results of Wednesday's polls will offer the first real indication of whether South Koreans are willing to do that.

 

[Kanetsugu]

Homicide trial opens for South Korea ferry captain and crew

Concerns over fairness of trial after media coverage coloured by presumption of guilt, and president’s statement that crew’s actions had been ‘tantamount to murder’

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 June, 2014, 2:37pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 June, 2014, 4:47pm

Agence France-Presse in Gwangju, South Korea

Judges sit to preside over a trial of crew members of the sunken ferry Sewol at Gwangju District Court. Photo: Reuters

With South Korean divers still searching for victims of April’s ferry disaster, the murder trial of 15 crew members opened on Tuesday in a highly-charged atmosphere that raised concerns about a fair hearing.

The trial began in the southern city of Gwangju in a packed courtroom which included grieving relatives of some of the 292 confirmed victims of the April 16 tragedy.

Captain Lee Joon-seok and three senior crew members are accused of “homicide through wilful negligence” – a charge that falls between first-degree murder and manslaughter, but still carries the death penalty.

Eleven other members of the crew are being tried on lesser charges of criminal negligence.

As the defendants were led in, someone shouted: “That guy is the captain, isn’t he? Murderer!”

Lee Joon-seok, captain of sunken ferry Sewol, arrives at the court in Gwangju. Photo: Reuters

One relative held up a sign that read: “You are not human. You are beneath animals.” An altercation arose between the relatives and security guards who tried to take the sign away.

The bulk of the charges arise from the fact that Lee and the others chose to abandon the 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry while hundreds of people were still trapped inside the heavily-listing vessel before it capsized.

A handful of crew members who stayed and tried to guide passengers to safety were among those who died.

The Sewol was carrying 476 passengers, including 325 students on a school trip, when it sank off the southwest coast.

So far 292 have been confirmed dead, with 12 still unaccounted for as divers continue to search the submerged vessel for remaining bodies.

The tragedy stunned South Korea, knocking the entire country off its stride and unleashing a wave of public anger, as it emerged that incompetence, corruption and greed had all contributed to the scale of the disaster.

Much of that rage focused on Lee and his crew, especially after the coastguard released a video showing the captain, dressed in a sweater and underwear, scrambling to safety from the sinking ferry.

South Korean media coverage of their arrest and arraignment was often coloured by a presumption of guilt, and just weeks after the disaster President Park Geun-hye stated that the crew’s actions had been “tantamount to murder”.

In such a heated atmosphere, with public calls for severe punishment, there are concerns that Lee and the other defendants may be unable to receive a fair trial in the Gwangju district court.

“It will be a very difficult case and the court will be under a lot of pressure,” said Jason Ha, a senior attorney with a leading law firm in Seoul.

“Public emotion is still running very high and, with the police still searching for the absconding ferry owner, the captain and crew are the target of all that anger,” Ha said.

Family members of passengers aboard the sunken ferry Sewol struggle with a security officer, while attempting to attend the trial. Photo: Reuters

Around 250 parents of the high-school victims travelled to Gwangju to attend the trial, both inside and outside the court.

The defendants reportedly had enormous difficulty in securing private legal representation, with few lawyers willing to take on the defence in such an emotive case.

Six public defenders have been appointed to the defence team. District court cases of this nature are usually heard by a three-judge bench.

“We don’t have a jury system here, and these are professional, independent judges who hopefully should be able to ignore the clamour outside,” Ha said.

Although the captain and three crew could, if convicted, be handed the death penalty, it is extremely unlikely it would be carried out.

A moratorium has been in place in South Korea since the last execution took place in late 1997. Currently, there are some 60 people on death row.

“There is enormous public interest and emotion surrounding this trial,” said Choi Jin-young, a spokesman for the Korean Bar Association.

“The judges must avoid being swayed by the public sentiment, although that might play a part if it comes to handing down a sentence,” Choi said.

A nationwide manhunt is still underway for Yoo Byung-eun, the fugitive patriarch of the family behind Chonghaejin Marine Co – the company that owned and operated the Sewol.

Newly-nominated South Korean prime minister Moon Chang-keuk is surrounded by reporters after holding a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Yoo is wanted for questioning on possible charges of embezzlement and criminal negligence.

President Park meanwhile on Tuesday nominated a political novice and former journalist as prime minister, as she reshuffles her cabinet in response to intense criticism over the handling of the ferry disaster.

Park’s nomination of Moon Chang-keuk, 65, was something of a surprise.

Although a noted opinion maker from his time as chief editorial writer at the Joong Ang newspaper, he has no political or administrative experience, having given up journalism to take up teaching posts in universities.

He will replace Chung Hong-won who resigned last month over the ferry tragedy.

Chung will remain in the job pending parliamentary endorsement of Moon’s appointment.

The position of prime minister is a largely symbolic position in South Korea where all real power lies in the presidential Blue House.

Additional reporting by Reuters

 

[DefJam]

South Korean police raid Christian complex linked to ferry owner for second day

3,600 officers search for patriarch of family behind the Chonghaejin Marine Co at compound where Yoo Byung-eun is believed to have once stayed

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 12 June, 2014, 12:28pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 12 June, 2014, 2:32pm

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

South Korean police raided the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea compound on Wednesday and Thursday. Photo: AP

Thousands of South Korean police raided the compound of a splinter religious group on Thursday for the second day in a row as part of a manhunt for a fugitive businessman wanted over April’s ferry disaster.

The raid into the sprawling church and farming complex in Anseong, 80km south of Seoul, involved some 3,600 officers, a police spokesman said.

Television footage showed riot police forming human barricades with shields around key facilities in the complex where Yoo Byung-eun, 72, a leading member of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, was believed to have once stayed.

In an operation involving 6,000 police officers on Wednesday, investigators detained five church followers suspected of helping Yoo evade a nationwide dragnet put in place after he defied an official summons to surrender to prosecutors.

It was not clear if police had detained anyone after the second raid on Thursday.

Police had raided the church complex three weeks ago, but came away empty-handed, amid reports that Yoo may have fled overseas.

Yoo is the patriarch of the family behind the Chonghaejin Marine Co., which owned and operated the 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry which sank on April 16 with the loss of 300 lives, most of them schoolchildren.

He is wanted for questioning on possible charges of embezzlement and criminal negligence, as prosecutors investigate the extent to which the Sewol disaster was caused by a lack of safety standards and regulatory violations.

Yoo has no direct stake in Chonghaejin, but his children and close aides control it through a complex web of holding companies.

A reward of 500 million won (HK$3.8 million) has been offered for information leading to the capture of Yoo and 100 million won for that of his eldest son, Yoo Dae-kyun.

A church spokesman has argued that Yoo was being set up as a fall guy for the Sewol disaster, because the government was unwilling to accept responsibility for regulatory failings that contributed to the tragedy.

The church has also offered a 500 million won reward for “those who reveal the truth behind the accident”.

Yoo has described himself as an artist and photographer, and was once convicted of fraud when a company under his control went bankrupt.