Print Page - April 16/14 - Ferry Sinks Off South Korean Coast

At least 4 dead, 284 missing after ferry sinks off South Korean coast
Published April 16, 2014

South Korean officials said Wednesday that nearly 300 people were still missing several hours after a multi-story passenger ferry sank off that country's southern coast, leaving at least four dead and dozens injured.

The ferry was carrying 459 people, most of them high school students, and was bound for the island of Jeju when it sent a distress call at around 9 a.m. local time Wednesday as it began leaning to one side, according to South Korea's Ministry of Security and Public Administration.

Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister for South Korea's Public Administration and Security Ministry, said the 459 people included 30 crew members, 325 high school students, 15 teachers and 89 non-student passengers.

Kang Byung-kyu, a government minister, said two of the dead were a female crew member and a male high school student. He said a third body was also believed to be that of a student. A coast guard officer confirmed a fourth fatality, but had no immediate details about it.

He said 164 people were rescued; 55 of them were injured. He said 284 people were missing, likely either trapped inside the ship or floating in the ocean.

The high number of people unaccounted for -- likely trapped in the ship or floating in the ocean -- raised fears that the death toll could rise drastically.

"We cannot give up," said South Korean President Park Geun-hye, after a briefing in Seoul with officials. "We have to do our best to rescue even one passenger."

Media photos showed wet students, some without shoes, some wrapped in blankets, tended to by emergency workers. One student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN from a gym on a nearby island that he and other students jumped into the ocean wearing life jackets and then swam to a nearby rescue boat.

"As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another," Lim said, adding that some people were bleeding. Once he jumped, the ocean "was so cold. ... I was hurrying, thinking that I wanted to live."

The water temperature in the area was about 12 degrees Celsius, cold enough to cause signs of hypothermia after about 90 minutes or 2 hours, according to an emergency official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules. Officials said mud on the ocean floor made underwater search operations difficult.

At least 87 vessels and 18 aircraft swarmed around the stricken ship. Rescuers clambered over its sides, pulling out passengers wearing orange life jackets. But the ship overturned completely and continued to sink slowly. Within a few hours only its blue-and-white bow stuck out of the water. Very soon, that too disappeared.

Local media photographs showed the ship heavily tilted onto its side, partially submerged, as helicopters flew overhead and rescue vessels and a small boat covered with an orange tarp floated nearby.

Those rescued -- wet, stunned and many without shoes -- were brought to nearby Jindo Island, where medical teams wrapped them in pink blankets and checked them for injuries before settling them down on the floor of a cavernous gymnasium hall.

Some 160 coast guard and navy divers searched for survivors inside the ship's wreckage a few miles from Byeongpung Island, which is not far from the mainland and about 290 miles from Seoul. Cho Man-yong, a coast guard spokesman, said 16 divers approached the ferry Wednesday night but failed to get inside because the current was too strong.

The U.S. Navy said the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, which was on a routine patrol off South Korea's west coast on Wednesday, would assist in the search and rescue operation.

"We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped," a passenger told the YTN news channel by telephone, The Guardian reported. "The boat is tilting and we have to hold on to something to stay seated."

Park Ji-hee, a first-year student, said she saw about a dozen parents crying at the school entrance and many cars and taxies gathered at the gate as she left in the morning.

She said some students in her classroom began to cry as they saw the news on their cellphones. Teachers tried to soothe them, saying that the students on the ship would be fine.

Passenger Kim Seong-mok, speaking from a nearby island after his rescue, told YTN that he was "certain" people were trapped inside the ship as water quickly filled up inside and the severe tilt of the ferry kept them from reaching the exits. Some people yelled at those who couldn't get out, urging them to break windows.

Kim said that after having breakfast, he felt the ferry tilt and then heard it crash into something. He said the ferry operator made an announcement asking that passengers wait and not move from their places. Kim said he didn't hear any announcement telling passengers to escape.

The students -- half of them boys and half girls -- are from Danwon High School in Ansan city, which is near Seoul, and were on their way to Jeju island for a four-day trip, according to a relief team set up by Gyeonggi province, which governs the city. There are faster ways to get to Jeju, but some people take the ferry from Incheon because it is cheaper than flying. Many South Korean high schools organize trips for students in their first or second years, and Jeju is a popular destination. The students on the ferry were in their second year, which would make most of them 16 or 17.

Yonhap news agency said the 480-foot-long ship, which travels twice a week between Incheon and Jeju, was built in Japan in 1994 and could carry a maximum of 921 people, 180 vehicles and 152 shipping containers.

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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/16/south-korea-ship-with-471-people-aboard-is-sinking-authorities-say/

At least 6 dead, 290 missing after ferry sinks off South Korean coast
Published April 16, 2014

South Korean officials said Wednesday that nearly 300 people were still missing several hours after a multi-story passenger ferry sank off that country's southern coast, leaving at least six dead and dozens injured.

The ferry was carrying 459 people, most of them high school students, and was bound for the island of Jeju when it sent a distress call at around 9 a.m. local time Wednesday as it began leaning to one side, according to South Korea's Ministry of Security and Public Administration.

Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister for South Korea's Public Administration and Security Ministry, said the 459 people included 30 crew members, 325 high school students, 15 teachers and 89 non-student passengers.

Kang Byung-kyu, a government minister, said two of the dead were a female crew member and a male high school student. He said a third body was also believed to be that of a student. A coast guard officer confirmed three other fatalities but had few details about them.

He said 164 people were rescued; 55 of them were injured. He said 284 people were missing, likely either trapped inside the ship or floating in the ocean.

The high number of people unaccounted for -- likely trapped in the ship or floating in the ocean -- raised fears that the death toll could rise drastically.

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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/16/south-korea-ship-with-471-people-aboard-is-sinking-authorities-say/?intcmp=latestnews

South Korea ferry disaster: captain and crew accused of abandoning passengers
Thursday 17 April 2014 12.33 BST

The parents of hundreds of children missing after Wednesday's ferry accident off the coast of South Korea have accused the captain of the vessel of abandoning passengers after it emerged that he and six other crew members were among the first to leave the ship after it started to sink.

The captain, Lee Joon-seok, who is reportedly in his 60s, escaped from the 6,835-ton Sewol just 40 minutes after the vessel apparently ran aground and started to list severely.

Survivors and the families of 287 people, most of them teenagers, who are thought to be trapped inside the sunken vessel directed their anger towards Lee, according to South Korean media reports, as rescue efforts continued in the dim hope that some of the missing passengers might still be alive. Navy divers tried to enter the capsized ship more than 10 times on Thursday, but were hampered by strong currents and poor visibility.

Local officials said 287 people remained unaccounted for more than a day after the vessel, with 475 on board, quickly sank in what may be South Korea's worst ferry disaster for two decades. Twenty people, including five high school pupils and two teachers, are known to have died, while 179 have been confirmed safe, including most of the 30 crew members, South Korean media said.

Lee, his face hidden by a grey hoodie, told reporters at the coastguard offices that he felt "really sorry for the passengers, victims and their families and am deeply ashamed. I don't know what to say." He had earlier been criticised after he was seen drying wet banknotes on his bed while being interviewed by journalists.

Kim Jae-in, a coastguard spokesman, said coastguard officials were questioning Lee, but denied earlier reports that the ferry had turned too swiftly when it was supposed to make a slow turn. He also declined to say whether the ferry had strayed from its usual route.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/17/south-korea-disaster-captain-crew-abandoning-passengers

(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/17/1397728834182/Lee-Joon-Seok-011.jpg)

Lee Joon-Seok (centre), captain of the South Korean ferry that sank at sea off Jindo, is questioned by reporters. Photograph: Yonhap/Reuters

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/18/world/asia/south-korea-ship-sinking/
Police: Arrest warrant issued for captain, 2 crew members of sunken S. Korea ferry
April 18, 2014

Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- An arrest warrant has been issued for the captain of the ferry that sank off the coast of South Korea, an accident that killed 28 people and left nearly 270 missing.
Two other crew members also face arrest, a spokesman for the joint prosecutor and police investigators said Friday.
The spokesman did not provide any further detail.
The cause of the accident still isn't known. But a Korean prosecutor said the captain, Lee Joon Suk, wasn't in the steering room when the ship started to sink; a third mate was at the helm.
"It is not clear where (the captain) was when the accident occurred, although it is clear that he was not in the steering room before the actual accident happened," state prosecutor Jae-Eok Park said Friday.
The captain was one of at least 179 people rescued soon after Wednesday's sinking.
In a tragic twist, one of those rescued, a high school vice principal who was on board the ferry along with more than 300 students, was found hanging from a tree, police said.
Kang Min Kyu, 52, vice principal of Ansan Danwon High School, was among the first survivors to be rescued.
Police said he apparently hanged himself with a belt from a tree near a gymnasium in Jindo, where distraught relatives of missing passengers have been camping out.
Meanwhile, divers raced to reach the hundreds of people still believed to be inside the ship.
Divers breached the hull of the sunken ferry Friday, and two managed to enter the second deck -- the cargo deck, the South Korean coast guard said. But rough waters forced them back out again. They didn't find any bodies in their brief search.
"The guide line that links the sunken ship and the rescue vessel has been cut off," the coast guard said. "Still, the entrance into the ship is open, and we plan to resume operation to enter the ship."
It's a race against time.
Hopes of finding the missing dimmed further when the entire boat became submerged Friday. Until then, part of the ship's blue-and-white hull was still poking out of the frigid waters of the Yellow Sea.
On top of that, divers must contend with fierce winds and rough waters.
"There are heavy currents in the area. So the vessel itself is not stable in the water. So you are, by default, putting divers at risk," U.S. Navy Capt. Heidi Agle told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. The U.S. Navy is assisting with the South Korean search.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/us-korea-ship-idUSBREA3F01Y20140418
Vice-principal of South Korea school in ferry disaster commits suicide
April 18, 2014

(Reuters) - The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on a ferry that capsized has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 268 missing alive.

The Sewol, carrying 475 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju.

Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday. He appeared to have hanged himself with his belt from a tree outside a gym in the port city of Jindo where relatives of the people missing on the ship, mostly children from the school, were gathered.

Police said Kang did not leave a suicide note and that they started looking for him after he was reported missing by a fellow teacher. He was rescued from the ferry after it capsized.
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The 69-year-old ship captain has also come under scrutiny after witnesses said he was among the first to escape the sinking vessel that was on a 400-km (300-mile) voyage to Jeju.

According to investigators, Captain Lee Joon-seok was not on the bridge at the time the Sewol started to list sharply, with a junior officer at the wheel.

Prosecutors on Friday issued arrest warrants for Lee, the officer at the wheel and one other crew member for failing in their duty to aid passengers.

"I'm not sure where the captain was before the accident. However right after the accident, I saw him rushing back into the steering house ahead of me," said Oh Young-seok, one of the helmsmen on the ship who was off duty and resting at the time.

"He calmly asked by how much the ship was tilted, and tried to re-balance the ship," said Oh who was speaking from a hospital bed in the city of Mokpo on Friday, where the injured have been taken.

NORMAL PRACTICE

Handing over the helm is normal practice on the voyage from Incheon to Jeju that usually takes 13.5 hours, according to local shipping crew.

Divers gained access to the cargo deck of the ferry on Friday, although that was not close to the passenger quarters, according to a coastguard official.

Other coastguard officials said that divers made several attempts to reach the passenger areas but failed.

"We cannot even see the ship's white color. Our people are just touching the hull with their hands," Kim Chun-il, a diver from Undine Marine Industries, told relatives of the missing.

The ferry went down in calm conditions and was following a frequently travelled route in familiar waters. Although relatively close to shore, the area was free of rocks and reefs.

Lee has not commented on when he left the ship, although he has apologized for the loss of life.

He was described as an industry veteran by the officials from Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd, the ship owner, and others who had met him described him as an "expert".

"I don't know why he abandoned the ship like that," said Ju Hi-chun, a maritime author who interviewed the captain in 2006 as one of the experts on the route to Jeju island.

But he added: "Koreans don't have the view that they have to stay with their ship until the end. It is a different culture from the West."

Some media reports have said the vessel turned sharply, causing cargo to shift and the ship to list before capsizing.

Marine investigators and the coastguard have said it was too early to pinpoint a cause for the accident and declined to comment on the possibility of the cargo shifting.

The record of the ferry owner was also under investigation and documents were removed from its headquarters in Incheon.

Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd is an unlisted company that operates five ships. It reported an operating loss of 785 million won ($756,000) last year.

According to data from South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, a government body, Chonghaejin is "indirectly" owned by two sons of the owner of a former shipping company called Semo Marine which went bankrupt in 1997.

Very sad news about the school principal's suicide. ::MonkeyNoNo::

http://abcnews.go.com/International/disgraced-captain-left-bridge-ferry-sank-off-south/story?id=23375173
Ferry Captain Arrest Sought for Leaving Bridge at Critical Time
April 18, 2014

The black keel of the stricken ferry that has jutted above the water since the ship sank with hundreds of people on board slipped below the surface today as hope for survivors dwindled.

The death toll rose to 28, with 268 listed as missing, most of them high school students. The tragedy was compounded when officials found the vice principal who had led the school trip hanging from a tree by his belt.

The school official was identified as Kang Min-Kyu. He had been rescued from the sinking ferry and he left behind a note saying he was tormented with guilt for having survived while so many students were missing, according to the Associated Press. He asked that he be cremated and his ashes scattered at the ferry site.
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Investigators have asked the courts for arrest warrants that named the captain, Lee Joon-seok, 68, and two crew members. The police said that Lee was not on the bridge at a time the ship was scheduled to make a turn, leaving the third mate in charge of the vessel. The third mate had just over a year’s worth of experience, West Maritime Police told ABC News.

Police also said the captain abandoned people who needed help, and delayed evacuating passengers.

"The captain escaped before the passengers," Yang Jung-jin, a senior prosecutor, told the AP.

But the announcement telling passengers to stay in place was “because rescue ships had not arrived," Lee said to reporters gathered outside the prosecutor's office, the Yonhap news agency reported, and he added that he eventually “gave an evacuation order."

He also admitted that he was not on the bridge at the moment the ferry made a sharp turn. "At the time [the ship] was turning, I had gone to the bedroom(s) for a moment,” he said, according to Yonhap, and he added that he had not been drinking.

Authorities pumped air into the ship earlier today in case there were survivors in an air pocket in the ship, even after the ship's keel later slipped below the water. The site of the sinking is now marked with buoys.

Three vessels with cranes arrived at the site to prepare to salvage the ferry. But they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those believed trapped inside because the lifting could endanger any survivors, a coast guard officer told the AP.

Divers were able to enter the ship's cargo deck today, Coast Guard officials said. The divers found many bodies huddled together, but they were unable to bring them up to the surface due to time restrictions.

Fresh details emerged from the moment when the vessel began to sink. The accident happened at a point where the ferry had to make a turn. Prosecutor Park Jae-eok told the AP that investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn that was so sharp that it caused the ship to list.

The captain's absence from the bridge may also be a factor. Yang said the turn was made when the ship was passing through an area with many islands clustered closely together, something he said is required by law so the captain can help a mate make a turn.

A transcript of the ship's distress calls to the harbor at the island of Jeju records the ferry crew saying they need help fast because the ship was tilting and a harbor official urging the ship's crew to get passengers evacuated.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-18/south-korean-ferry-captain-wasn-t-on-the-bridge-before-sinking.html
South Korea Ferry Captain Is Behind Bars, Yonhap Reports
April 18, 2014

The captain of a South Korean ferry that sank last week has been jailed and is facing five charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, according to Yonhap News.
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Lee, 69, wasn’t on the bridge at the time of the sinking and he had assigned the third navigation officer to steer the vessel, prosecutor Park Jae Uck told reporters yesterday. Lee is accused of having escaped before passengers when the 6,825-ton vessel slowly sank, according to Yonhap.

Investigators said they are probing whether the ferry, which is now entirely submerged, turned too quickly or abnormally. They declined to say what announcements were made as the ferry sank, or whether passengers were told to stay in their cabins.

About 10 crew including the captain were being investigated over whether mistakes were made, if they broke any rules related to cargo and if the ship had any faults, the coast guard said in a statement.

“It’s not as though we didn’t want to help,” crew member Oh Young Seok, 57, said in an interview at a hospital in Mokpo, during a break from police questioning. “We know the rule. The rule is to help the old and the weak, pregnant women, then other passengers, and then we should leave when it appears all have left, and the captain should abandon ship last. But the vessel was tilting so fast we couldn’t reach any lifeboats.”
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Two announcements were given at around 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. calling on passengers to don life jackets and stay in their current location because the ferry was tilting, Oh said. The ferry first contacted authorities at 8:55 a.m. on April 16 to request coast guard assistance, according to an audio clip of the exchange issued by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

“Ship has listed a lot. Can’t move. Please come quick,” the ferry told the Vessel Traffic Services in Jeju, its destination.

“I did hear the announcement that we should stay put but I couldn’t,” Choi Chan Yeol, a 57-year-old chef, said in an interview at a hospital in Mokpo. Choi managed to escape by gripping a cord and pulling himself to the door of the restaurant hall. “It was scary as the ferry was tilting and water was filling up.”
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The ferry, named Sewol, or “time and tide” in Korean, listed and capsized in an area of the ocean as shallow as 20 meters (66 feet) in some parts, based on readings from a coast guard vessel used in the rescue operation. The ship was en route from Incheon to Jeju island, popular with tourists.

Bodies found all had life jackets on and weren’t discovered inside the ferry. They may have been trapped under the vessel, the coast guard said.

“Divers are groping their way because visibility is so poor, 20-30 centimeters at best,” coast guard official Ko Myung Suk told reporters.

The number of divers conducting operations increases every six hours as the current off Korea’s southwest coast slows, according to notice boards at the situation room at Jindo county office. Each slowdown lasts about an hour. Floating cranes have also arrived at the site.

‘Upside Down’

“Pulling the ferry up isn’t going to be easy or smooth,” Kim Jae In, a press officer at the West Regional Headquarters of Korea Coast Guard said in Mokpo. “It’s completely upside down so if we move it wrong, it may tilt or sink further into the mud. This is something we cannot afford as lifesaving is our top priority, although we’re holding onto a slim chance.”

Authorities are considering using an oil tanker to attempt to slow down the current. Rescuers are also pumping air into the ferry to “increase the odds of survival,” the security ministry said in a statement.

In addition to the coast guard, 400 personnel from South Korea’s navy, air force and army have been sent to the area to aid the search and rescue. Altogether, 632 divers are working in turns, with 173 ships and 29 helicopters and other aircraft supporting, the security ministry said.

Mate steering doomed ferry navigating waters for first time, prosecutor says
Published April 19, 2014

The third mate steering a South Korean ferry carrying 475 passengers that sank on Wednesday, killing 32 and leaving 270 missing, was navigating those waters for the first time when the accident occurred, a prosecutor said Saturday.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin told reporters that the 25-year-old mate was steering the ship as it passed through an area with lots of islands clustered close together and fast currents. The mate has six months of experience and hadn't steered before because another mate usually handles those duties.

The captain of the ferry that sank off South Korea leaving more than 300 missing or dead, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Lee Joon-seok, 68, along with two crew members were taken into custody, including the rookie third mate.

The number of confirmed dead rose to 32 when three bodies were found in the murky water near the ferry, said coast guard spokesman Kim Jae-in. Divers know at least some bodies remain inside the 6,852-ton vessel, but they have been unable to get inside due to strong currents, rain and an inability to break the windows. Hundreds of civilian, government and military divers were involved in the search effort Saturday.

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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/19/transcript-shows-ferry-captain-delayed-evacuation/

http://www.wfaa.com/news/world/Cries-of-anguish-as-South-Korea-ferry-toll-tops-100-256165731.html
Cries of anguish as South Korea ferry toll tops 100
April 2014

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The confirmed death toll from the April 16 disaster off South Korea's southern coast reached 113 on Tuesday, officials said, and about 190 people were still missing. Four crew members accused of abandoning the ship and failing to protect the passengers were arrested, three days after warrants were issued for the captain and two other crew.
The victims are overwhelmingly students of a single high school in Ansan, near Seoul. More than three-quarters of the 323 students are dead or missing, while nearly two-thirds of the other 153 people on board the ferry Sewol survived.
The number of corpses recovered has risen sharply since the weekend, when divers battling strong currents and low visibility were finally able to enter the submerged vessel.
Emergency task force spokesman Koh Myung-seok said bodies have mostly been found on the third and fourth floors of the ferry, where many passengers seemed to have gathered. Many students were housed in cabins on the fourth floor, near the stern of the ship, Koh said.
One by one, coast guard officers carried the newly arrived bodies covered in white sheets from a boat to a tent on the dock of Jindo island Tuesday.
The bodies are then driven in ambulances to two tents: one for men and boys, the other for women and girls. Families listen quietly outside as an official briefs them, then line up and file in. Only relatives are allowed inside.
Bodies are being identified visually, but family members have been providing DNA samples in case decomposition makes that impossible.
Twenty-two of the 29 members of the ferry's crew survived, and nine of them have been arrested or detained in connection with the investigation.
The captain, Lee Joon-seok, and two crew members were arrested Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said a court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for four other crew members authorities had detained a day earlier. Two additional crew members were detained Tuesday.
The four crew members arrested Tuesday talked to reporters after a court hearing, their faces hidden with caps, hooded sweatshirts and masks.
One said they tried to correct the ferry's listing early on but "various devices, such as the balance weight, didn't work. So we reported the distress situation, according to the captain's judgment, and tried to launch the lifeboats, but the ferry was too tilted and we couldn't reach."
The captain has said he waited to issue an evacuation order because the current was strong, the water was cold and passengers could have drifted away before help arrived. But maritime experts said he could have ordered passengers to the deck - where they would have had a greater chance of survival - without telling them to abandon ship.
The cause of the disaster is not yet known. Senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don said investigators are considering factors including wind, ocean currents, freight, modifications made to the ship and the fact that it turned just before it began listing. He said authorities will conduct a simulation and get experts' opinions.
A Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries official had said Friday that the vessel had taken a sharp turn. But on Tuesday a ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity saying he wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said the ministry now has more complete details about the ship's path.
Data transmitted by the Sewol's automatic identification system, an on-board transponder used for tracking, show that the ship made a J-shaped turn.
The ministry official said AIS data received by a central station was incomplete because the ship's signal was weak, and that it missed more than three minutes of tracking. More complete data, retrieved from a base station in Mokpo, show that over the course of most of that time, the ship was making a roughly 180-degree turn.
Although the fisheries ministry released those details only on Tuesday, Ahn said prosecutors previously had complete details about the ferry's path.
It remains unclear why the ship turned around. The third mate, who was arrested Saturday, was steering at the time of the accident, in a challenging area where she had not steered before, and the captain said he was not on the bridge at the time.
::snipping3::

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304518704579518993969767898?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304518704579518993969767898.html
South Korea Ferry Probe: Cargo Was Three Times Recommended Maximum
Officials From Ship Operator Are Banned From Leaving the Country
April 23, 2014

SEOUL—Prosecutors expanded their investigation into the owner of the sunken South Korean passenger ferry on Wednesday as inspectors confirmed the cargo weight declared by the ship on its final voyage was three times the recommended maximum.

Officials from Chonghaejin Marine Co., the operator of the ferry, were banned from leaving the country as investigators raided the offices of the company, its affiliates, the residence of the firm's owner, as well as other companies he owns.

Prosecutors also collected documents from the Korean Register of Shipping, a government-commissioned inspector that conducted safety checks on the ship earlier this year. The expanded investigation is looking into whether regulations were enforced and inspections properly completed on the doomed vessel.

The ferry operator declared it was loaded with 3,608 tons of cargo when it left Incheon port on Tuesday last week, according to radio communication with the Korean Shipping Association. An official at Korean Register said on Wednesday that the maximum recommended weight of cargo for the "Sewol" was 987 tons.

Prosecutors have yet to identify the cause of a tragedy a week earlier that has left more than 300 people dead or missing, although the focus on Chonghaejin Marine has intensified in recent days.
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In addition to looking at possible overloading, prosecutors are also looking into whether the ferry was safe for operation after a redesign early last year. Modifications included adding extra passenger cabins, raising the passenger capacity by more than 150 people, and increasing the weight of the ship by almost 240 tons, the Korean Register said.
The changes were approved and met safety standards, but prosecutors are unsure whether the ship's owner made additional changes afterward. It is also not clear if Chonghaejin Marine followed a request from inspectors to take measures to ensure the ship remained balanced in case of tilting.

Appearing in front of the media on Tuesday, detained crew members of the ship said that it had poor stability and problems with its steering.

"If the investigation proves that they have violated the laws, the ferry operator's license will be revoked. We're reviewing such a possibility," said a director at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
More...

When we learned this tragedy had gone beyond rescue and it would be recovery of bodies (barring a miracle) we knew there would be so much sadness and sorrow. Yesterday, I read in the article posted above this one how a boy and a girl had knotted their life vests together. ::MonkeyTears:: In this article, it explains there were 48 girls in a cabin intended for 30, indicating many ran into the same room when the ferry tilted. I cannot imagine their terror. Most bodies had their life vests on, but the sad part was the with the positioning of the boat, the exits to escape were submerged, below the water, making escape difficult (if not impossible).

In another article above, we learned earlier the boat's cargo load exceeded the recommendations by three times the amount. This article says authorities are saying the boat wasn't overloaded. The person at the wheel didn't have experience guiding the boat through that area and we still don't have an explanation why there was the sudden turn. Now, a sister boat is being looked at and there appear to be many problems there too. It would appear there were modifications to both boats to add to the carrying capacity of passengers. ::MonkeyNoNo::

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/25/world/asia/south-korea-ship-sinking/
Divers find cabins crammed with bodies inside sunken ferry
April 25, 2014

Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- Divers searching the wreck of the sunken South Korean ferry are finding cabins overfilled with people, but they are encountering major obstacles in recovering bodies, South Korean officials said Friday.
Searchers discovered the bodies of 48 girls wearing life vests in a cabin with a capacity of 30, indicating many passengers ran into the same room when the ship tilted.
The ferry Sewol is on the sea floor and resting with its right side up, said Capt. Kim Jin-hwang, a South Korean navy officer commanding the rescue operation.
Searchers are now trying to reach a dormitory-style cabin where they believe as many as 50 girls may be, he said.
::snipping3::
A sister ship of the sunken ferry operated by the same company was found to have multiple safety concerns, investigators told CNN.
The prosecutor's office leading the investigation in the southern city of Mokpo said that authorities have been looking at the passenger ferry Ohamana, a ship owned by Chonghaejin Marine. That company also owns the Sewol, which sank off the country's southwestern coast on April 16 with 476 people on board.
The Mokpo Joint Investigation Force Headquarters examined the Ohamana because of its similarities to the Sewol and to get an idea of how the Sewol may have been operating.
Investigators inspected the ship and took away documents from the ship's offices Friday. They studied the emergency escape plans and found the following issues:
• Of the life rafts on board, 40 did not work.
• The emergency slides did not work.
• There was no equipment to tie down cars.
• The equipment for tying down containers didn't work very well.

Like the Sewol, the Ohamana had been modified to add more passengers, the prosecutor's office said.
::snipping3::

The ferry Sewol lurched on its side and capsized last week. Among the passengers were 325 high school students on a field trip to the resort island of Jeju.
The number of confirmed dead rose to 185 on Friday, with 117 still missing, according to the South Korean coast guard.
Hopes of finding any survivors in the sunken ferry have all but evaporated after news that divers have found no air pockets on the third and fourth levels of the ship, where many passengers were thought to have been trapped.
Rescuers saved 174 people on the day the ferry sank, including 75 high school students, but no survivors have been found since.
::snipping3::
Authorities do not yet know what caused the sinking, but a widening criminal investigation has ensnared the ship's captain and more than a dozen other crew members and led prosecutors to search the offices of the company that owns the ship.
Officials also searched the offices of 20 affiliated companies and the home of Yoo Byung-un, the man whose family is believed to be behind the company, looking for any evidence of wrongdoing that could have led to the ship's sinking.
Among other things, investigators have said they will look into whether modifications to the ship in 2013 could have altered the ship's balance and contributed to what happened.
Kim Yong-rok, an opposition lawmaker who represents Jindo, an island near where the ship sank, told CNN that modifications to add 117 more passenger cabins to the ship raised the ferry's center of gravity.
Kim said the work on the ferry took place in 2013 after the Sewol was purchased from a Japanese company. The ferry's passenger capacity was expanded from 804 to 921, he said.
South Korean prosecutors were unable to confirm those details for CNN.
But they are investigating the private organization responsible for inspecting and certifying ships for the South Korean government, which signed off on the work.
::snipping3::

All 15 crew that navigated South Korean ferry in custody, prosecutor says
Published April 26, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea – All 15 people involved in navigating the South Korean ferry that sank and left 302 people dead or missing are now in custody after authorities on Saturday detained four more crew members, a prosecutor said. ....

All are accused of negligence and of failing to help passengers in need as the ferry Sewol sank April 16. The captain 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.

Ten days after the sinking, 187 bodies have been recovered and 115 people remain missing. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members. ....

Officials in charge of the search effort said Saturday that divers have reached two large rooms where many of the lost may lie dead, but the search had to be suspended because of bad weather. Currents were already strong Saturday morning, as they were in the first several days of the search, when divers struggled in vain even to get inside the submerged vessel.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/26/all-15-crew-that-navigated-ferry-held/?intcmp=latestnews

http://theinsidekorea.com/2014/04/ferry-disaster-ferry-investigation-targets-maritime-police/
Ferry Disaster : Ferry investigation targets maritime police
April 27, 2014

::snipping3::
188, with 114 still unaccounted for, as of 6 p.m. Sunday.

As part of the investigation into the accident, investigators requested search warrants for the Coast Guard in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, to look into whether the maritime police mishandled its rescue response. Investigators plan to raid the situation room of the Coast Guard on Monday if its warrant is granted by the court.

Prosecutors will also investigate whether the maritime police reacted to the distress call in accordance with its manual and whether their response was appropriate.

Public criticism has mounted over the Coast Guard’s initial response after it was discovered that it had asked a teenage passenger, who first called for help, about the latitude and longitude of the site.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors raided Jeju Vessel Traffic Service and seized communications log and surveillance camera records to look into possibilities of negligence of duties, officials said.

The Jeju VTS was the first service that Sewol crew members contacted for urgent help, a few minutes after passenger’s report to the maritime police. Receiving the report from the ferry crew, the Jeju VTS passed the report to the Jindo VTS as the ferry was within the Jindo VTS control area.

This is the second raid following the Jindo VTS office. On Saturday, the authorities seized communication and phone records that were conducted between the Jindo office and the ferry crew.

The Jindo VTS is accused of neglecting its duties to monitor the ferry in the emergency situation in its control area. It did not acknowledge the situation of the ferry for 18 minutes from the occurrence, investigators said.

Investigators will look into any delays or mishandlings regarding the communication of between the two VTS offices.

While most of the nation’s VTS offices including the Jeju one are under the Oceans and Fisheries Ministy’s control, the Jindo office is under the maritime police’s authority.

The divided control of the VTS offices may have caused some delays in the initial rescue work, critics suspected.
::snipping3::

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/28/world/asia/south-korea-ship-sinking/
3 arrested over evidence, call center raided in South Korea ferry probe
April 28, 2014

Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean authorities arrested three people Monday on suspicion of destroying evidence connected to the sinking of the ferry Sewol. Investigators also raided a Coast Guard office in a probe of how officials handled the first emergency call from a passenger.
The director and two other people with the Korea Shipping Association's Incheon office were arrested and accused of destroying evidence related to the probe of Chonghaejin, the company that owns the ferry, prosecutor Song In-taek said.
The Korea Shipping Association is a trade group that promotes the interests of the country's shipping industry.
The site raided was the Coast Guard building in Mokpo, which includes the South Jeolla province emergency center -- a facility that provides 119 services, akin to the 911 emergency service in the United States. Investigators are looking into possible dereliction of duty, said Yang Joong-jin, the chief prosecutor in Mokpo.
Police and prosecutors seized documents and recordings from the day of the ferry's sinking, state-run news agency Yonhap reported.
The office received the first distress call from the ship when an 18-year-old boy dialed the 119 emergency number, the report said. "According to a transcript of the recording, a Coast Guard official asked the student to provide the latitude and longitude of his location, sparking criticism that authorities wasted crucial minutes before starting a rescue operation. The investigation team said it will analyze the work journals and transcripts of the recording to see whether the authorities properly fulfilled their duties," Yonhap added.
::snipping3::

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/27/world/asia/south-korea-ferry-video/
Videos capturing ferry's final moments fuel fresh outrage over ship's fate
April 29, 2014

Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- In one video, the captain of the sinking South Korean ferry scrambles to safety. In another, stranded passengers panic.
"Wow, it's tilting a lot. We're tilting to this side. Can't move," one says.
"You think I'm really going to die?" another cries.
The two recordings fueled fresh outrage Monday over the Sewol ferry's sinking as questions swirled over why so many perished in the disaster while many members of the ship's crew survived.
The video capturing passengers' panic was recorded by a teenage boy on the vessel, according to South Korean national TV network JTBC. The teen's father gave the network the footage after authorities recovered his son's body and found the cell phone. Its memory card was still intact, JTBC reported.
The network shared a roughly three-minute audio clip of the video with CNN, which translated the exchanges.
The clip provides a horrifying glimpse into the uncertainty and desperation inside the ferry as it rolled.
Meanwhile, outside the ferry, rescuers were circling, a video released by South Korea's coast guard shows.
The video shows the coast guard's rescue of Lee Joon-seok, the ship's captain, who scrambles off the stricken vessel in his underwear.
Speaking out about it for the first time on Monday, the men who rescued him said they had no idea who he was until later.
"During the rescue operation, people were just dropping in the sea," South Korean coast guard Capt. Kim Kyung Il told reporters. "Everyone was wearing a life vest, so we couldn't tell who was passenger, and who was crew."
Arrests and an investigation
Many South Koreans have lambasted the government's response to the disaster, saying it has been too slow. South Korean authorities are pressing a criminal investigation.
The ship's captain and 14 others have been arrested. Prosecutors in Mokpo, who are leading the ferry investigation, tell CNN that all the 15 crew members in charge of sailing and the engine room have been indicted and are being held in the Mokpo prison.
Authorities also arrested three people Monday on suspicion of destroying evidence connected to the sinking of the ferry.
On Sunday, South Korea's Prime Minister announced his resignation, saying he wants to take responsibility for the initial reaction to the disaster.
::snipping3::

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/25387237/off-duty-captain-warned-ferry-had-stability-risks
Off-duty captain warned ferry had stability risks
April 30, 2014

MOKPO, South Korea (AP) - An off-duty captain of the sunken South Korean ferry has told investigators that the owners ignored his warning that the ship shouldn't carry too much cargo because it wasn't very stable, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The captain, whom prosecutors will only identify by his surname, Shin, was on vacation on the day of the accident two weeks ago that has left more than 300, mostly high school students, dead or missing and has caused widespread shame and grief. The ferry was piloted April 16 by a substitute captain, Lee Joon-seok, who is now being detained along with 14 other crew members who were involved in navigating the Sewol.

Yang Jung-jin, a senior prosecutor on the team investigating the sinking off the southern coast, wouldn't say when the captain warned the company and didn't know whether Shin made multiple warnings about stability.

A stability test report on Jan. 24 from the Korean Register of Shipping showed that the ferry became top-heavy and less stable after a modification of the ship from October 2012 to February 2013 that involved adding more cabins in some of the ship's floors.
::snipping3::
Senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don, also part of the investigation team, said Wednesday that authorities detained two employees at Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd., the ferry's owner, on suspicions of accidental homicide stemming from professional negligence in connection with the sinking. Ahn wouldn't identify the employees.

Meanwhile, family members of high school students killed in the sinking dismissed as insincere President Park Geun-hye's apology for the government's handling of the disaster. They called for the quick retrieval of the missing. The ship carried 476 people, mostly from a single high school. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members.
::snipping3::

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/05/world/asia/south-korea-ship-sinking/
Diver searching sunken ferry off South Korea dies
May 6, 2014

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- A diver searching the sunken Sewol ferry died Tuesday, according to South Korea's Government Rescue Headquarters.
"A civilian diver, Lee, lost the communication line at 25 meters under the sea five minutes into his first dive," spokesman Koh Myung-suk said.
"By the time his colleagues went to save him, Lee was unconscious and unable to breathe by himself," Koh said.
::snipping3::
Not including the diver, the death toll in the ferry disaster has risen to 264, with 38 people still missing, the government reported.
::snipping3::
Nearly 130 divers are combing the ship, looking for the remaining missing bodies.
Ferry survivors honor lost classmates First ship on scene saw no evacuation
The search-and-rescue operation has turned into a grueling recovery of corpses. No one has been found alive since the ferry sank April 16 with a passenger load largely made up of high school students on a field trip.
The work has become even more difficult because divers have faced closed cabin doors blocked by debris.
Corralling the debris has been difficult for search teams.
Mattresses and clothing from the ship have been found up to 9 miles (15 km) away from the accident site, said Park Seung-ki, a spokesman for the rescue operation.
Large stow and trawler nets will be set up around the sunken ship to catch items that may float away, he said. At the same time, some three dozen ships will be clearing an oil spill from the ferry, which is threatening the livelihood of the local fishermen.
::snipping3::

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/world/asia/employees-of-south-korean-ferry-operator-are-arrested.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0
4 Employed by Operator of Doomed South Korean Ferry Are Arrested
May 6, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea — Four officials with the operator of the doomed South Korean ferry have been arrested on charges of overloading the ship with cargo, a senior prosecutor said on Tuesday, as President Park Geun-hye attributed one of her country’s worst peacetime disasters to corporate “greed.
::snipping3::
With the arrest of four officials of Chonghaejin Marine Company, including a 62-year-old executive who was put behind bars on Tuesday, investigators formally identified overloading as one of the causes of the disaster, which left 263 dead and 39 missing as of Tuesday.
The officials faced criminal charges, including accidental homicide. They were accused of contributing to the deaths of passengers by ordering the overloading of the ship or ignoring the danger that the excessive cargo and its improper stowage caused to the vessel’s stability.
::snipping3::

“A real tragedy of the disaster was that those students who followed the instructions died,” said Bark Soon-il, head of the Korea Social Policy Institute in Seoul. “And those adults who made the rules but didn’t follow them escaped.”

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/south-korean-ferry-accident-two-more-missing-114050800436_1.html
South Korean ferry accident: Two more missing
Two unregistered Chinese nationals onboard were detected to be missing
May 8, 2014

The number of people missing in the South Korean ferry sinking disaster rose after two unregistered Chinese nationals onboard were detected to be missing, authorities said Thursday.

There was no change in the total number of passengers, but the number of those missing has risen, Xinhua cited from an interim report on rescue operations by Coast Guard chief Kim Seok-kyun.

As of Thursday, 269 people have been confirmed dead, while 35 are still missing. The number of those saved was 172.

The number of those rescued fell by two due to a double report and a mistaken calculation. The number of missing rose by two as two Chinese nationals unregistered in the passenger list were added, Kim said.

A total of four Chinese nationals were onboard the ferry, which sank off the country's southwestern coast April 16.

On the 23rd day into search, no bodies were retrieved overnight as climatic conditions became worse in the area.
::snipping3::
The number of injured divers kept rising as they were exhausted amid the protracted search operations. Six more divers received decompression treatment Wednesday, taking the total number of those injured to 24.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-10/south-korean-ferry-captain-rejects-homicide-charge
South Korean Ferry Captain Rejects Homicide Charge
June 10, 2014

The captain of the South Korean ferry that sank in April killing more than 300 rejected homicide charges against him at the first day of his trial while relatives of the victims jeered the crew of the ship.

Captain Lee Joon Seok, 68, went on trial today along with 14 other crew members of the Sewol ferry at Gwangju district court, south of Seoul. Prosecutors accused the crew of abandoning the ferry on April 16 while passengers -- most of them school children on a field trip -- were instructed to stay in their cabins.

“Lee said through his lawyer he did all he could to save the passengers, but couldn’t do anything more, because the ship had already capsized too much,” Hahn Jee Hyung, a court spokesman said by phone. Three other crewmembers charged with homicide also rejected the allegations, he said.

Only 172 of the 476 people aboard the Sewol were rescued. Divers have yet to find the remaining 12 bodies after retrieving 292 victims from the ferry that capsized off the southwestern coast of the country.
::snipping3::

Homicide is punishable by death in South Korea, although no one has been executed for the offense since 1997. A separate trial is scheduled later this month for the chairman of the ferry operator and other senior employees charged with allowing excess cargo on the ship and other safety breaches.

Authorities have also been hunting for weeks for a man they say is the de-facto owner of the ferry company, saying he neglected to improve safety and crew training. The government is offering a reward of nearly $500,000 for information leading to the arrest of Yoo Byung Eun.

“It is absurd” that prosecutors still have not taken custody of Yoo, South Korean President Park Geun Hye said today during a cabinet meeting.
::snipping3::

How is this "religious oppression" ? Yoo is both head of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Korea in Anseong City and the owner of the sunken ferry Sewol. Does it make him exempt from law as a business owner because he's head of a church?

http://abcnews.go.com/International/cops-raid-church-searching-owner-doomed-ferry/story?id=24090338
Cops Raid Church Searching for Owner of Doomed Ferry
June 11, 2014

Thousands of South Korean police raided a church compound today searching for the fugitive billionaire owner of a ferry that sank in April killing more than 300 people.

About 6,000 police officers in riot gear with helmets and plastic shields forced their way into the compound headquarters of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea in Anseong City, 50 miles south of Seoul, but failed to find Yoo Byung-eun.

Yoo, 73, is the head of the church and the owner of the sunken ferry Sewol. Police have offered a $500,000 reward for his capture.

Investigation is underway as to whether the accident was caused by lack of safety standards on the ferry and regulatory violations. The tragedy traumatized the country since most of the victims were high school students on an outing and many of the ferry's crew members, including the captain, escaped the sinking ship leaving the passengers trapped below. The crew was in court Tuesday to face criminal charges.

Police arrested four church members today suspected of assisting Yoo to elude the manhunt and two other church members for allegedly obstructing the raid. Hundreds of devoted church members have been staging a sit-in at the gate of the Anseong compound for weeks singing hymns and chanting “stop the religious oppressions” beneath banners that said “We will protect Yoo Byung-eun even if 100,000 church members are arrested.”

The sprawling church compound includes ranches, fields, a fish farm and an auditorium that can house up to 5,000 people, according to media reports.

In addition to the reward for Yoo, the government has offered a $100,000 bounty for Yoo's oldest son. One of his daughters was arrested in France last month.

Yoo's church has a controversial reputation in South Korea. In 1987 32 people, who critics suspect were church members, were found dead in the attic of a factory near Seoul in what authorities said was a collective murder-suicide pact. The church has denied involvement.

Yoo was investigated over the deaths after a probe into the dead people's financial transactions showed some of their money was funneled to him. He was cleared of suspicions that he was behind the suicides because of a lack of evidence, but was convicted on a separate fraud charge.

The church is believed to have about 10,000 members.

::MonkeyNoNo::

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/17/us-southkorea-ferry-idUSKBN0ES0L320140617
Accused South Korea ferry crew say rescue was coastguard's job
June 17, 2014

(Reuters) - The surviving crew of a South Korean ferry that sank in April killing more than 300 people and sparking a nationwide outpouring of grief argued on Tuesday that it was up to the coastguard to rescue the passengers, not them.

Lawyers for the 15, who face charges ranging from homicide to negligence, said that once coastguard rescuers had reached the sharply listing vessel, the crew's job was over.

"The crew share the belief that they thought the coastguard should be fully capable of the rescue because there was a distress call and they arrived and they were the ones with professional skills and equipment," lawyer Im Ju-young told the court on the second day of the trial in Gwangju, the closest city to the scene of the disaster.
::snipping3::
Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers from the same school on the outskirts of Seoul. Only 172 people were rescued and the remainder are all presumed to have drowned.

Crew members, including the captain, were caught on video abandoning ship while the children stayed in their cabins as told, wearing life jackets and awaiting further orders.

Im represents three crew members, including one charged with homicide. The court granted a defence request to call coastguard officials who first reached the sinking Sewol as witnesses.

The court also plans to call some of the surviving students from the Danwon High School to hear testimony after they finish their term exams, presiding Judge Lim Young-youb said.

Captain Lee Joon-seok, 68, and three senior crew are charged with homicide, facing a maximum sentence of death. Two crew are charged with fleeing and abandoning ship that carries a maximum term of life in prison. Nine face negligence charges.

"They were in a panic and it didn't even occur to them to go to rescue action stations," state-appointed defence lawyer Ju Chul-soo, who represents two of the defendants, told the court.
::snipping3::
DEFENCE STRATEGY

The lawyers have now settled to the task of combing through more than 1,400 items of evidence submitted by the prosecution.

Judges said they would travel to Incheon, where the ferry company was based, with three of the defendants and their lawyers on June 30 to inspect the Sewol's sister ship to gather any evidence that may be related to the case.

Last week, defence lawyer Lee Kwang-jae, who represents the captain, argued that the charge of homicide was excessive and the primary responsibility fell on the coastguard.

"I think it is reasonable that rescue activities for the passengers should be done by the coastguard that comprehensively managed and monitored the accident and handled rescue-related equipment, rather than the crew members," he said.

Im, Lee and Ju are among the six defence lawyers appointed by the court and face the unpopular task of building a defence when the crew have already been found guilty by an angry public.

All are junior lawyers who have been recently admitted to the bar and have yet to open private practices.

They declined to comment on strategy when reached at an office they share near the court but they have consistently tried to build an argument that there was clear absence of wilful negligence.

The coastguard has been publicly criticised for its slow and ineffective response. President Park Geun-hye, in an emotional public apology, last month said she would break up the coastguard and transfer the rescue role to an agency yet to be created.

Legal experts said putting the blame solely on the coastguard was unlikely to work.

"It's barely convincing," said Kim Hyun, a maritime lawyer.

"The crew stayed on the bridge for about 40 minutes and didn't do anything to rescue passengers although they knew the ship was going to sink. What crew members are claiming is hard to accept."

Authorities are still searching for Yoo Byung-un, 73, head of the family that owned the operator of the ferry, on charges of embezzlement seen as a key factor that led to compromised safety management.

Police have arrested executives of the ferry operator and subsidiaries of the investment firm held by Yoo's family but they have yet to go on trial.

The Gwangju court next sits on June 24.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/south-korean-ferry-operator-ceo-blamed-sinking-article-1.1837281
South Korean ferry operator's CEO blamed for sinking that left 300 dead or missing
Prosecutors slammed Kim Han-sik, the CEO of Chonghaejin Marine Co., and four employees for causing the accident by overloading the ship with poorly stowed cargo, a practice that allegedly earned the company an extra $3 million in profit in 2013.
June 20, 2014

GWANGJU, South Korea — Prosecutors on Friday said the CEO and four employees of the operator of a sunken South Korean ferry caused the accident by overloading the ship with poorly stowed cargo after a risky redesign and neglecting safety by spending less than $2 last year on crew training.

The defendants countered that the cause of the April disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing wasn't yet clear. The five had been expected to verbally enter pleas at a preliminary hearing Friday at Gwangju District Court, but their lawyers said they needed more time and would submit written pleas later. Another hearing is scheduled in three weeks.
::snipping3::
Prosecutors indicted the company officials for alleged professional negligence and violating a law on measures required for safe maritime navigation.
::snipping3::
The CEO of Chonghaejin, Kim Han-sik, 71, did not deny that the ferry was overloaded with cargo and had been redesigned, but contended that it was questionable whether those factors led to the sinking, according to his lawyer, Kang Seok-won.
Defendant Nam Ho-man, who headed Chonghaejin's cargo team, never told workers to load as much cargo as possible, didn't know the ferry's cargo limit and didn't know how much cargo was loaded on the day of the accident, according to his lawyer, Kim Jun-seong.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Park Jae-eok said the five defendants neglected the passengers' safety in return for economic benefits and must be held responsible.

Kim, the CEO, encouraged managers at a weekly gathering to meet the ferry's cargo goals even as he sought to sell the ship because of instability caused by the redesign, mounting losses and too much cost, Park said. If the cargo goal was not met, the weekly meeting was used to caution employees, he said.
The prosecutor also said that the employees at Chonghaejin were responsible for the captain and crew's abandonment of the sinking ship and the failure to protect passengers because they did not oversee sailors' emergency training and spent only $2 on training last year. That money covered the fee for issuing a paper for a sailor who received education elsewhere, Park said.
::snipping3::
All but one of 15 crew members responsible for navigating the ferry have pleaded not guilty to charges linked to their alleged failure to protect passengers, who were mostly high school students on a school trip.
The crew members, including the captain, said through their lawyers that their employer was responsible for the ship's sinking because sailors had no control over cargo. They said the coast guard was responsible for rescuing the passengers.

A total of 292 bodies have been recovered and 12 people are still missing from the ferry sinking, one of the most deadly peacetime disasters in South Korea.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/21/us-southkorea-ferry-idUSKBN0EW08X20140621
Ferry sinking: South Korea closes net round family of most wanted man
June 21, 2014

(Reuters) - The wife of South Korea's most wanted man, a businessman linked to a ferry disaster in which hundreds of school children drowned, was arrested on Saturday, prosecutors said, as the net tightens around the fugitive's family.

Police and prosecutors arrested Kwon Yoon-ja, 72, on suspicion of embezzlement after chasing her for more than 20 days, an official said.

Prosecutors and police are seeking Yoo Byung-un, 73, who has eluded one of the country's biggest manhunts for more than a month. The husband of Yoo's younger sister, a former ambassador to the Czech Republic, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of helping Yoo escape arrest.

Yoo is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from a web of business holdings centred on I-One-I, an investment vehicle owned by his sons that ran the shipping company, Chonghaejin Marine.

Chonghaejin owned the Sewol, which sank off the southwest coast on April 16 killing more than 300 people, many of them school children, on a routine journey from Incheon on the mainland to the southern holiday island of Jeju.

Authorities suspect Kwon, who owns one of Yoo's subsidiary companies that sells health supplements, poured funds into companies owned by her husband and son.
::snipping3::
Five Chonghaejin employees, including company boss Kim Han-sik, pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence in court on Friday.

"I feel strongly about the responsibility I have as chief for an accident that caused massive casualties," Yonhap news agency quoted Kim as saying. "But I have doubts that it was my fault the ferry sank and left so many people dead."

Yoo's elder brother, Yoo Byung-il, has been arrested on charges of embezzlement and violations of real estate laws. His daughter, Yoo Som-na, has been held in France after Interpol called for her arrest "for fraud and embezzlement".

Yoo, a photographer who once had an exhibition at the Louvre in Paris, was once jailed for fraud, has eluded capture in a case which has become an embarrassment for authorities already under pressure for their handling of the disaster.

Police and prosecutors twice raided the compound of a religious sect he co-founded, using earth movers to search for tunnels, but to no avail.

Authorities have offered a half-million-dollar reward for Yoo, the maximum allowed for an individual in a criminal case.

Lawyers for the 15 surviving crew of the Sewol, who face charges ranging from homicide to negligence, argued on Tuesday that it was up to the coastguard to rescue the passengers, not them.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/south-korea-ferry-disaster-owner-blamed-for-5-earlier-crashes-1.2691670
South Korea ferry disaster: owner blamed for 5 earlier crashes
Speculation that monopoly discouraged regulators from taking action over safety lapses
June 30, 2014

In the same narrow waterways where more than 300 people died this spring aboard the South Korean ferry Sewol, another ship owned by the same company crashed into an oil tanker 11 years earlier. The ferry's captain had chosen the difficult water path to cut a mere 11 kilometres from its journey.
It was among five crashes, from 2003 to 2011, that government investigators blamed mostly on sailors of Chonghaejin Marine Co. ferries. Three of the incidents occurred within a 12-month span, and after those occurred, a government investigator chided the company for failing to make safety reforms.

None of the crashes caused fatalities, but together, some experts say, they were reason enough for regulators to suspend or even revoke the company's licence. That never happened, and in fact Chonghaejin was allowed to expand by adding the Sewol to its fleet last year.

Chonghaejin's punishment for those five failures: two one-month suspensions for sailors, three verbal warnings to captains, one verbal warning to the company and a fine of 7.5 million won ($7,400 US). The biggest fine that can be issued in ferry-safety cases is just 30 million won ($29,400 US).

The Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal, an arm of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries that serves as a maritime court, recommended safety changes to the company as well, but they were nonbinding.
More...

http://time.com/2968886/south-korea-sewol-ferry-license-cargo/
South Korean Ferry Was Operating Illicitly, State Report Says
July 9, 2014

The Sewol had earned an operating license by means of fraudulent documents, and carried twice the legal limit of cargo

The MV Sewol was operating under a license earned by fraudulent safety documents when it capsized off the South Korean coast in April, an incident that left 300 people — mostly high school students on a class trip — dead.

An interim report on the tragedy filed by South Korean state investigators failed to specify exactly how the Sewol deceived licensing officials, CNN reported, but the Audit and Inspection Board plans to penalize those agencies that failed to perform proper safety inspections aboard the ferry.

On its final voyage, the ferry’s cargo exceeded twice the legal limit and had not been properly secured onboard, contributing to the boat’s capsizing en route from the city of Incheon, near Seoul, to the island of Jeju.

The findings of this latest report do not bode well for the Sewol’s crew and owners, who face legal charges for negligent actions that prosecutors say both facilitated the sinking of the ferry and failed to prevent the death of most of those onboard.
More...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28339896
South Korea ferry search helicopter crashes, kills five
July 17, 2014

A helicopter that had been involved in the search for missing passengers from the sunken Sewol ferry has crashed in the South Korean city of Gwangju, killing all five people on board.

The helicopter was carrying fire-fighters returning to their base when it crashed into a street near an apartment complex, Yonhap reported.

A female high school student was slightly injured by shrapnel.

Eleven people are still missing in the wake of the 16 April ferry disaster.

The fire-fighters had been involved in the search operations for the last remaining passengers since Monday, reports said.

Yonhap quoted witnesses of Thursday's accident as saying that they saw the helicopter catch fire before nose-diving into the street.

"A plume of black smoke rose with a loud bang," said an unnamed witness. "I thought it was thunder and lightning."

The cause of the accident is still unknown and officials are investigating.

Student protest
The sinking of the Sewol killed more than 300 people, most of whom were students.

The incident triggered widespread grief and anger at the government, which has promised to overhaul its bureaucracy and improve emergency response.
Several protests have been held in Seoul in recent days calling for an independent inquiry to be swiftly conducted.

The latest was on Wednesday when more than 30 student survivors together with their parents marched on South Korea's National Assembly in Seoul.

Their march from their high school to the building attracted hundreds of citizens who walked together with them, according to AFP news agency.

Some clutched placards with slogans such as "Truth never sinks!".

A bill that would set up an independent inquiry is currently stuck in parliament because of a split over the legal foundation.
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http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/three-months-later-body-recovered-south-korean-ferry/
Three Months Later, Body Recovered From South Korean Ferry
July 18, 2014

Seoul. Divers retrieved another body Friday from the site of South Korea’s ferry disaster — the first to be recovered in nearly four weeks from the submerged vessel that sank three months ago.

The body of a female was found inside a dining hall of the upturned ferry which is lying on the seabed at a depth of 40 meters (130 feet), rescue authorities said.

The 6,825-ton Sewol ferry was carrying 476 passengers and crew — including 325 high school students — when it capsized and sank off the southern coast on April 16.

The latest body brings the number of confirmed dead to 294, with 10 victims still unaccounted for.

Although more than three months have now elapsed since the disaster, dive teams continue to carry out dangerous daily missions to scour the inside of the vessel for the missing bodies.

Victims’ families insist that heavy cranes can only be brought in to lift the ship once all the victims have been accounted for.

President Park Geun-hye and her administration have been bitterly criticized for their response to the disaster, which stunned the entire country.

A recent report by the state auditor said the sinking was a “man-made disaster” created by negligence, corruption and greed.

Fifteen Sewol crew members are on trial, including the captain and three senior officers who are accused of “homicide through willful negligence” — a charge that can carry the death penalty.

The bulk of the charges arise from the fact that they chose to abandon the ferry while hundreds of people were still trapped inside.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/21/korea-ferry-disaster-owner-dead/12968665/
Body believed fugitive owner of sunken ferry
July 21, 2014

South Korean police Tuesday said a body found in June is believed to be the fugitive billionaire owner of a ferry that sank two months earlier, killing more than 300 people.

DNA evidence indicates the man found in a field about 185 miles south of Seoul is 73-year-old Yoo Byung Eun, who also founded a Christian cult known as the Salvation Sect, the Yonhap news agency reported. His company, Chonghaejin Marine Co., owned the ferry Sewol, which capsized and sank April 16, apparently from overloading.

Police did not say how or when he died. The body was clad in a winter sweater and hat, and was described as "seriously decomposed."

DNA taken from Yoo's nearby vacation home and his older brother "fairly matched," a police official said. Final results are pending from the National Forensic Service.

The announcement came as a court issued a new arrest warrant for Yoo, who was accused of embezzling millions from the ferry company, which authorities said led to overloading ships and cutting corners on safety. In the early 1990s he spent four years in prison after being convicted of embezzlement.

Yoo's 75-year-old brother, whose DNA provided the match, went on trial Monday, along with Yoo's wife and brother-in-law. They are accused of embezzling $29 million from affiliates of Chonghaejin Marine.

The president of Chonghaejin Marine has been arrested, along with four employees who handled the cargo. The ferry captain and 14 crewmembers who survived have also been arrested for negligence and not helping passengers.

Prosecutors said Monday that 331 people are being investigated for possible involvement in the sinking, and that 139 people -- including Coast Guard officers -- have been detained for trial.
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http://online.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-finds-body-of-sewol-patriarch-1405994795?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304282604580044142938897262.html
South Korea Finds Body of 'Sewol' Patriarch
July 21, 2014
SEOUL—Ending a three-month nationwide manhunt after South Korea's ferry disaster, police confirmed Tuesday that the body of the patriarch of the family that controls the ship's operator had been found in a plum field in the south of the country.

Yoo Byung-eun's decomposed corpse was found on June 12 in Suncheon, just a few miles away from the 73-year-old's residence, police said.

The cause of death wasn't yet confirmed due to the body's deteriorated state, Suncheon police chief Woo Hyung-ho said at a nationally televised news conference. But forensics matched the body's DNA to samples of Mr. Yoo's found during the investigation. Bottles of local liquor were found at the site.

Police chased Mr. Yoo for months over alleged tax evasion and embezzlement since the ferry sinking, accusing his family of accumulating wealth through illegal means while cutting corners on safety. The family controlled the ship operator Chonghaejin Marine Co. whose ferry "Sewol" sank on April 16, killing over 300 people, mostly high-school students.

Mr. Yoo initially denied his involvement in the company's operation but later fled to avoid prosecutors' summons. Mr. Yoo's attorney didn't answer calls Tuesday morning.

Mr. Yoo and his family were targets of a nationwide hunt involving thousands of policemen and military personnel, with several members including his wife under custody. Police are still seeking one of his sons for questioning.

Before his name was linked to the ferry, Mr. Yoo was best-known for in the country as the founder of a church that was investigated in 1987 following a group suicide of 32 members. People ranging from government officials to celebrities have come under media scrutiny in recent months for professional and/or personal ties to the family. Mr. Yoo once recovered from corporate bankruptcy and served jail time for embezzlement, court documents and government records show.

The delayed confirmation of the body's identity is likely to raise questions about why police didn't identify it sooner after it was found over a month ago.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/skorea-lab-fails-find-ferry-owner-died-24706316
Son of South Korean Sunken Ferry Owner Detained
July 25, 2014

South Korean police detained the eldest son of the sunken ferry owner Friday after two months on the run, three days after his billionaire father was confirmed dead.

Yoo Dae-gyun was picked up from an office south of Seoul along with a woman accused of helping his fugitive life, Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said.

Yoo is a major shareholder in Chonghaejin Marine Co., the operator of the ferry that sank in April. His father, Yoo Byung-eun, had founded the predecessor of Chonghaejin.

For months, authorities had sought the two saying embezzlement and other alleged corruption by the Yoo family may have contributed to the April 16 disaster that left 294 people dead and 10 still missing. Most of the victims were high school students.

The body of the elder Yoo, 73, was discovered in a southern rural area by a resident on June 12. But it was mistaken as a homeless man's despite nearby clues to its identity, and authorities continued their massive manhunt for more than a month, raising public criticism about ineptness of police and prosecutors.

DNA testing confirmed the body was that of the elder Yoo late Tuesday, and the National Forensic Service, South Korea's state-run forensic lab, said Friday that due to decomposition, it could not determine the cause of his death.

Authorities did not even suspect the body could be Yoo's until recently — even though his body was found near a villa police raided in May and items found near the remains could have offered clues about his identity. DNA tests took about 40 days and critics say officials could have done it sooner if they suspected it was him.

Prosecutors later admitted that Yoo's detained secretary told investigators her boss was hidden behind a wall on the second floor during the May 25 search of his villa.

A high-level prosecutor resigned and two senior police officers were dismissed, but South Korean opposition lawmakers and media called for higher level officials to also step down.

The forensic service's chief Seo Joongseok and other experts told a televised news conference that they did not find any evidence showing that Yoo was poisoned, suffocated or died of external pressures or any disease. Police have said they haven't found any evidence Yoo was killed.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/28/uk-southkorea-ferry-idUSKBN0FX03Y20140728?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71&google_editors_picks=true
Associate of dead South Korea ferry boss arrested, children due to give evidence
July 27, 2014

(Reuters) - A close associate of the man whose web of business holdings included a ferry that sank and killed more than 300 people in April was arrested on Monday, a week after the ferry owner's badly decomposed body was identified.

The woman, who was believed to have been instrumental in helping Yoo Byung-un elude South Korea's largest manhunt, turned herself in on Monday. Police identified her only by her last name, Kim.

Another woman, the wife of Yoo's driver who was thought to have been with him during his final days at large, also turned herself in to police.

The ferry Sewol capsized on a routine trip on April 16, one of South Korea's worst civilian maritime disasters. Many of those killed were children from the same school on a class trip.

The detention of the two women, confirmed by a prosecutor, comes as some of the students who made it out of the ferry alive were due to take the stand at the trial of 15 crew members who fled the vessel.

Passengers on board the ferry, many of them children, had been told to stay on board while it was sinking.

The 15 surviving crew members, including the captain, face charges ranging from homicide to negligence for abandoning the ship ahead of the passengers. Video footage of their escape triggered outrage across South Korea.

Yoo heads the family that owned the ferry operator.

His associate, Kim, had been wanted for helping Yoo evade arrest. Her arrest came three days after police stormed an apartment on the outskirts of Seoul and found Yoo's elder son, Dae-gyun, who was wanted for embezzlement.

Yoo Dae-gyun is one of two sons who co-owned the holding company at the centre of a network of business interests that included the ferry operator.

He was not believed to have been as actively involved in management as his younger brother, who is believed to be in the United States.
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/29/uk-southkorea-ferry-idUKKBN0FY04Q20140729
South Korea ferry boss's driver who may hold key to mystery turns self in
July 29, 2014

(Reuters) - The driver of a South Korean businessman wanted over the sinking of a ferry that killed 304 people turned himself in on Tuesday, potentially unlocking the mystery of the businessman's final days after the country's worst maritime disaster in 44 years.

Prosecutors in the port city of Incheon said the driver, Yang Hoe-jung, turned himself in at their office, which is leading the investigation into the role of businessman Yoo Byung-un in the sinking of the ferry Sewol.

Yoo's body was found by a farmer in an orchard on June 12.

The structurally defective and heavily overloaded ferry capsized and sank on a routine journey on April 16, killing 304 people, 250 of them teenagers from the same school on a class field trip. Twelve of their teachers were also killed.

The driver was the last among a group of people close to Yoo who had been wanted for allegedly helping him elude South Korea's biggest manhunt.

Yang is thought by authorities to have been with Yoo, the head of a family that ran a network of companies that included the ferry operator, in the days before Yoo's body was found.

Police only identified the badly decomposed body as that of Yoo last week, although an autopsy and other extensive testing failed to indicate how he died or came to be in the orchard, forensic experts have said.

Yoo was accused of various wrongdoing including embezzlement and negligence that prosecutors believe led to the ferry disaster.

A reward of 500 million won (£287,456) had been posted for information leading to his arrest, the largest possible amount under South Korean criminal law.

Yoo's wife, brother and oldest son have been arrested but his younger son, Yoo Hyuck-ki, remains at large and is believed to be in the United States.

A senior prosecutor has said efforts have been made to work with U.S. authorities to capture Yoo Hyuck-ki, who was considered Yoo's heir-apparent.
RESCUE EFFORT

The trial of 15 surviving crew members on Tuesday continued to hear testimony from some of the 75 teenagers who survived the disaster. They spoke of the heroic leadership of a classmate amid the chaos, rather than that of the crew or coastguard.

"Some boy came around handing out (life vests)," one student told the Gwangju district court, which has moved temporarily to Ansan, south of Seoul, to accommodate the students.

"We were in the hallway, and someone asked, 'Who is willing to go up in the helicopter?' and we raised our hands and went," she said. "Some boy asked, the boy with the life vests."

Two helicopters pressed into the rescue effort were able to take off a few passengers who climbed on to the starboard side of the listing vessel.

The boy who handed out life jackets later took the witness stand to offer a dramatic account of efforts to escape the ship which had listed too sharply by the time the helicopters arrived for some of the students to climb out of a hallway to safety.

"We tied rope made out of curtains lowered from above around the girls who were willing to go, but it broke in the middle so we grabbed the hose from the fire hydrant ... and raised them one by one," he said.

The court has ordered the students' names withheld.

The crew face charges ranging from homicide to negligence for abandoning the ship after telling passengers, including the students, to remain in their cabins.

Some of the surviving children who testified on Monday said there was little help from coastguard rescuers who arrived as they scrambled out of the sinking ferry, with many
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28752727
Sewol trial: South Korea coast guard was 'ill-equipped'
August 12, 2014

South Korean coast guard officers say they did not have the right training or equipment to rescue passengers from the stricken ferry, Sewol.

The officers were speaking at the trial of the ship's crew members.

More than 300 passengers, most of them school children, died when the Sewol sank in April, in South Korea's worst maritime disaster in decades.

The accident sparked outrage, with the government and the ferry's crew and owners facing the fiercest criticism.

The captain and 14 crew members are on trial for a range of charges relating to the disaster. The captain and three others are accused of the most serious crimes, of negligent homicide.

Defence lawyers for the captain have in turn accused the coast guard of failing in their duty to rescue passengers.

In court on Tuesday in the southern city of Gwangju, the coast guard officers spoke for the first time of what they encountered when they reached the ship.

They said they had expected to find passengers waiting on the deck, and were unaware that many were still trapped inside cabins that were filling up with water.

An officer said he was ready to pull people from the water, but did not have the equipment or the training to go inside the sinking ship.

The officer also said he did not know Captain Lee Joon-seok was one of the first people he had rescued from the boat.

According to Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, the BBC's correspondent in Gwangju, one of the most damning pieces of evidence against the captain is a coast guard video that shows him fleeing the ship while hundreds of passengers remain stuck inside.

Last month, an interim report by the South Korean government said the authorities' negligence and corruption were partly responsible for the sinking of the ferry.

Investigators say the ferry had been illegally modified to carry more passengers and cargo, and was overloaded.

But prosecutors say the actions of the captain and crew - including instructing passengers to stay in their cabins as the ship listed - led to more deaths.

The head of the ferry operator and other company officials are facing a separate trial.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/nyregion/in-suburban-new-york-an-unlikely-link-to-a-south-korean-ferry-disaster.html
In Suburban New York, an Unlikely Link to a South Korean Ferry Disaster
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN and CHOE SANG-HUN
AUG. 12, 2014

BEDFORD, N.Y. — With its blue-and-gold regalia and its link to French royalty, the chocolate shop by the Bedford Hills train station looked as if it would fit right in when it opened several years ago in this well-to-do suburb.

Now, it is an unlikely portal to a drama unfolding thousands of miles away, as the cobwebs on its front door and the broken glass on its side entrance faintly hint.

After an overloaded ferry sank on April 16 in South Korea, taking 304 people, mostly schoolchildren, down with it, the South Korean police have arrested dozens of crew members, inspectors, regulators, emergency medical workers and executives connected to Chonghaejin Marine, the company that operated the Sewol, the ill-fated ferry.

The search for Mr. Yoo was the largest manhunt in South Korean history.In Ferry Deaths, a South Korean Tycoon’s DownfallJULY 26, 2014
Son of Owner Is Arrested Over Sinking of South Korean FerryJULY 25, 2014
Through Interpol, South Korea has sought other countries’ help in capturing members and some confidants of the far-flung Yoo family who already face charges back home for embezzlement and other financial crimes. Prosecutors say they are building a case showing that these key insiders controlled the ferry company through a web of companies and drained it of assets that could have been spent on safety. South Korean tax authorities have also pressed their foreign counterparts to see if the family is hiding assets abroad that could compensate the victims’ families.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/29/us-southkorea-ferry-idUSKBN0GT0MN20140829
Captain of doomed South Korea ferry says lack of checks was customary: Yonhap
August 29, 2014

(Reuters) - The captain of a ferry that capsized in April in South Korea's worst maritime accident in decades told a court on Friday he was just following established practice in not making safety checks before the vessel set off, Yonhap news agency reported.

Lee Joon-seok, 68, appeared at times disoriented and unable to properly understand questions when he took the stand for the first time in the court in the southwestern city of Gwangju that is trying him and three crew members for homicide, it said.

The overloaded ferry Sewol capsized and sank on a routine voyage that killed about 300 people, causing an outpouring of grief as well as outrage at President Park Geun-hye's government for what was seen by many as a botched rescue operation.

Lee was among 15 crew members accused of abandoning the sharply listing ferry after telling the passengers, most of them school children on a trip to the holiday island of Jeju, to stay put in their cabins.

The 11 other defendants face less serious charges, such as negligence. The defense lawyers of most said they had done their duty as crew, and the job of rescuing the passengers rested with the better trained coast guard.

Lee said he was following established practice by not running checks to ensure the cargo and the number of passengers fell within the limits of what his ship could carry.

"It's been the custom," Lee was quoted as saying by Yonhap, when asked why he did not make thorough checks.

The court has heard from teenagers who survived the disaster that they had helped one another in a desperate struggle to escape the sinking vessel. In addition to the school children, 12 of their teachers were killed.
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The operator of the ferry has since ceased operation and the head of the family that owned the holding company, Yoo Byung-un, 73, was found dead in an orchard in June, although his body was only identified 40 days later and authorities have been unable to determine how he died.

Yoo’s wife, two brothers and oldest son have been arrested on charges that include embezzlement, but were temporarily released from detention to attend the funeral, scheduled for Saturday.

Police have arrested executives of the ferry operator and subsidiaries of the holding firm. The coast guard, which is set to be broken up, also faces a probe for suspected negligence in the course of the rescue operation.

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/09/16/south-koreas-park-stays-out-of-sewol-ferry-issue/
South Korea’s Park Stays Out of Sewol Ferry Issue
September 16, 2014

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday rejected a demand from her political rivals to intervene in the National Assembly discussion on the terms of a new probe into April’s Sewol ferry sinking.

The hottest issue involving the investigation is whether to give a new team power to prosecute anyone found responsible for the accident that left more than 300 dead or missing. The ruling party has rejected that demand, saying it would breach judicial procedures.

During a regular cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, Ms. Park said, “it is not something that I, as president, can or should do because doing so can destabilize…the separation of legal, administrative, and judicial powers,” referring to the demand that the president should take the lead in talking to the ruling Saenuri Party to get concessions and resolve the parliamentary deadlock.

“If the basic rule is broken, the judicial system will collapse, which in turn harms the foundation of our country,” she said.

The president also urged the National Assembly to speed up the passage of other important bills, including one that will enable change to the government structure so it can be more efficient in dealing with disaster.

The country’s parliament has, for months, been largely dysfunctional. The two main parties have been wrangling over the terms of the special law and refused to discuss other issues. At one point, a bipartisan compromise was reached, only to be rejected by some of the family members.
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-for-South-Korea-ferry-disaster-captain/articleshow/44946896.cms
Prosecutors seek death penalty for South Korea ferry disaster captain
October 27, 2014

WANGJU, SOUTH KOREA: South Korean prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for the captain of the Sewol ferry that sank in April, saying he had abandoned the more than 300 people who died in the disaster.
They also sought life sentences for three senior crew members as the trial of Captain Lee Joon-Seok and 14 Sewol crew wound up in the southern city of Gwangju.

Lee "escaped the ship without making any efforts to rescue passengers", the prosecution team said in its sentencing recommendation to the court.

"He made excuses and lied. He showed no repentance... and so we ask for the death sentence," the prosecution said.

Lee and three senior crew had all faced the capital charge of "homicide through wilful negligence" but the prosecution said only the captain should receive the death penalty, as the burden of responsibility lay with him.

The three others should receive life sentences, they said, while recommending prison terms of between 15 and 30 years for the remaining 11 crew who were tried on lesser charges.

The Sewol was carrying 476 passengers and crew when it sank off the southern coast on April 16. Only 174 people were rescued.

Lee and most of his crew were among the first to climb into rescue boats.
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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/11/11/south-korea-ferry-disaster-verdict/
Captain of sunken S. Korean ferry receives 36 years in prison
November 11, 2014

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Capt. Lee Joon-seok was convicted of gross negligence, but was also acquitted of a homicide charge, which claimed that he left the passengers behind while the ship was sinking.

Family members of the victims, most of whom were teenagers, immediately criticized the sentence for Lee and other crew members as too lenient, some weeping and shouting during the court proceedings.

The vessel's chief engineer got 30 years, and 13 other crew members were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. The engineer, Park Ki-ho, was convicted of the homicide charge because he abandoned two injured colleagues, escaped the ferry and failed to tell rescuers about them, even though he knew they would die without help, the court statement said.

The court, however, cleared two other crew members of homicide charges for the same reasoning used to acquit the captain of homicide, the statement said. Those crew members got 15 and 20 years in prison, it said.

The court acquitted the widely vilified Lee of the homicide charge, for which he could have received the death penalty, because it was difficult to believe that he knew his actions would cause such a huge number of deaths, according to a court statement. It said that Lee had issued an evacuation order. South Korea hasn't executed anyone since late 1997, though its courts occasionally issue the punishment.

An official from the Justice Ministry, who requested anonymity because of office rules, said Lee, 69, will technically be eligible for parole after serving one-third of his prison sentence.

"Do you know how many children are dead?" one relative shouted out during the sentencing, according to Kook Joung-don, a lawyer for the relatives. "This isn't right," another screamed.

Prosecutors and the crew members have one week to appeal, according to the court.

The 15 crew members tasked with navigating the ferry Sewol have faced scathing public criticism because they escaped the sinking ship while many of their passengers were still trapped inside. A total of 476 people were aboard the ship and only 172 were rescued. Most of the dead were teenage students traveling to a resort island on a school trip.

Nearly seven months after the sinking, 295 bodies have been recovered, but nine are still missing. South Korean officials said Tuesday they've ended searches for the missing because there was only a remote chance of finding more bodies while worries have grown over the safety of divers. Two civilian divers have died after falling unconscious during searches.
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http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/South-Korean-court-reduces-jail-term-for-ferry-6258687.php
South Korean court reduces jail term for ferry company chief
May 12, 2015

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The High Court in the city of Gwangju lowered Kim Han-sik’s sentence to seven years from 10 years. Kim, 72, the chief executive of Chonghaejin Marine Co., had received the 10-year sentence from a lower court in November after being convicted of accidental homicide and embezzlement.
The presiding High Court judge, Seo Kyong-hwan, said Tuesday that he had decided to reduce Kim’s sentence after considering the lighter punishments given to other defendants in connection with the April 2014 sinking of the Sewol, one of South Korea’s worst disasters in decades. Investigators found that the ferry had been dangerously overloaded, among other safety violations, and that the family that controlled Chonghaejin Marine had stolen funds that could have been used to make the ship safer. Kim and others were convicted of helping the family embezzle the funds.
Most of the 304 people killed in the ferry sinking were high school students on a field trip. The ship’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison last month for fleeing the ship without trying to help the passengers.

Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Current Events and Musings => News of the Day => Topic started by: Tamikosmom on April 16, 2014, 12:36:48 PM