hankyoreh

Nov. 11. (by Kim Seong-gwang

The captain of the Sewol ferry was acquitted of homicide charges on Nov. 11.

Instead, a court sentenced Lee Joon-seok, 68, to 36 years in prison for abandonment causing death and injury for his role in the disaster, which claimed 304 lives.

Judge Im Jeong-yeop of the Gwangju District Court eleventh criminal division held a sentencing hearing on Nov. 11 for 15 crew members on the ferry. Lee was acquitted on charges of homicide and attempted homicide, but convicted of abandonment causing death and injury and violation of the Seafarers‘ Act.

“By failing to evacuate passengers to a safe location and assist them in exiting the ferry at a time when the hull was continuing to list and sink, Mr. Lee contributed to the deaths of 304 people and the injuries of 152,” the court explained as its reason for the abandonment sentence.

But the court did not side with prosecutors in their charge of homicide by failure to act, for which they were seeking the death penalty.

“Given that there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Lee did not issue any order to abandon ship, and the Coast Guard rescue effort was under way, it is difficult to conclude that Mr. Lee was aware that passengers could die as a result of his actions,” the court explained.

Chief engineer Park Ki-ho, 53, did receive a 30-year sentence for homicide by failure to act. In its guilty verdict, the court cited Park’s exiting the boat without alerting the Coast Guard about two cook colleagues who had been injured in front of him. First class navigator Kang Won-sik, 42, and second class navigator Kim Young-ho, 46, received sentences of 20 and 15 years, respectively, but were acquitted of homicide.

The court also handed down 10-year sentences for Park Han-gyeol, a 25-year-old third class navigator who was on duty at the time of the accident, and helmsman Cho Joon-gi, 55. The other nine crew members received sentences of five to seven years each.

The court judged the cause of the accident to be the boat‘s sudden listing due to a series of steering errors when the vessel’s structure and overloading had impaired recoverability. In its ruling, it concluded there was no evidence to suggest an outside impact or steering equipment failure.

staff photographer)

Families of the victims were up in arms over what they called the court’s excessively narrow interpretation of homicide by willful negligence.

“This verdict ruthlessly crushed the hopes of family members,” the Sewol Families’ Committee said at a press conference organized in front of the Gwangju District Court entrance just after the sentencing.

“We can only ask just who the law is supposed to exist for,” the committee added, before calling on the prosecutors to appeal the sentences and demand appropriate punishment for the defendants.

Meanwhile, the underwater search for nine Sewol passengers who remain missing was officially called off on Nov. 11, 209 days after the sinking. The decision was made after an agreement by the pan-governmental disaster response headquarters and the missing passengers‘ family members, who were concerned about the divers’ safety. The administration also began discussions on whether and how to salvage the hull. Considering precedents from similar cases, that process is expected to take at least one year.

Families of those who died in the Sewol tragedy cry in front of Gwangju District Court after the verdict was announced

By Jung Dae-ha and Ahn Gwan-ok, Gwangju correspondents

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