Tag: ferry boat

This is going to be a very expensive operation to do.  The Korean government should force the ferry boat company to pay for this instead of the taxpayers:

South Korea’s president on Thursday vowed to raise the Sewol ferry — which sank a year ago killing 304 people — as mourners marked the anniversary of the disaster.

Most of those killed in the sinking, off the country’s southwestern coast, were high school students. Some 295 bodies were retrieved but nine remain missing.

Speaking in the port of Paengmok, near the disaster site, President Park Guen-hye said she would take “the necessary steps to salvage the ship at the earliest possible date,” the BBC reported.

Park’s announcement — the first time she explicitly mentioned the recovery operation — came soon after the National Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the swift recovery of the ferry, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. The president said all measures would be taken to recover the bodies of the missing.

“I have a heavy heart and my heart aches to think how painful it is” (for the family members), Park said, according to Yonhap.  [USA Today]

You can read the rest at the link, but for causing this tragedy Chonghaejin Corp. was fined less than $10,000.  They should pay to raise the ferry and compensate all of its victims.

Does anyone else find it ridiculous that the crew is getting rightfully slammed by the legal system while the ferry boat company who is just as much to blame for the Sewol tragedy was fined under $10,000?:

Prosecutors demanded capital punishment for the captain of the Sewol ferry, which sank in South Korean waters leaving more than 300 people killed or missing a year ago, during an appeals trial on Tuesday.

The captain, Lee Jun-seok, and 14 other crew members of the ferry were accused of abandoning the ferry and the 476 people on board in the early hours of the ship sinking off South Korea’s southwest coast on April 16.

Prosecutors had sought a death penalty for the captain and life imprisonment for three crew members in charge of steering the ship and jail terms ranging from 15 to 30 years for 11 other crew members.

But a district court sentenced Lee to 36 years in jail, clearing him of manslaughter and other major charges in November.

The 14 others were given jail terms ranging from five to 30 years, while the ferry’s operator Chonghaejin Corp. was fined 10 million won ($9,161). They all appealed the rulings.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but instead of trying to kill the captain who will already spend the rest of his life in jail how about going after Chonghaejin and increasing the ridiculously low fine they received.

New film Diving Bell which explores the sinking of the Sewol ferry boat is set to premier.

Bereaved families of the Sewol ferry victims march on the streets of Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, on Feb. 4, 2015. They are in the midst of a nationwide march in demand of the safe salvage of the sunken ferry in the sea off Jindo Island, South Jeolla Province. (Yonhap)

It looks like from the corporate side of the Sewol Ferry disaster the authorities are making the company’s president the fall guy:

The head of the operator of the South Korean Sewol ferry that sank in April killing more than 300 people has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The Gwangju district convicted Kim Han-sik, president of Chonghaejin Marine, of criminal negligence.
Investigators found the ferry had been overloaded with cargo which contributed to its sinking.
Last week, the court sentenced 15 crew members to between five and 36 years in prison. (BBC)

You can read more at the link.

The captain of the Sewol ferry boat will likely die in prison considering his age, but I am surprised how the engineer was convicted of murder and not the captain:

A district court on Tuesday sentenced the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol to 36 years in prison for abandoning passengers at the time of the deadly sinking.

Lee Joon-seok, however, was acquitted of charges that he murdered 304 passengers as he left them behind while he was the first to be rescued when the ill-fated ship was sinking off South Korea’s southern coast on April 16.

The Gwangju District Court in this southern city convicted the 68-year-old skipper of gross negligence and dereliction of duty, including abandoning his ship while the passengers, most of them high school students on a school trip, remained trapped inside the ship.

“Captain Lee ordered the second mate to tell passengers to get off the ship when the patrol ship was about to arrive at the scene,” judge Lim Jung-yeob said in his ruling. “It is hard to conclude that the captain’s act eventually led to the death of the passengers just based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution.”

Prosecutors, who had earlier sought the death penalty against Lee, said they would immediately appeal the verdict.

In the same ruling, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the ship’s chief engineer, only identified by his surname Park, to 30 years in prison, convicting him of murder.

Prison terms ranging from five years to 20 years were delivered to 13 other crew members, including the first engineer surnamed Sohn, who have been charged with abandonment and violation of a ship safety act. (Yonhap)

I do find it interesting how these crew members are deservedly getting smashed with these sentences while the corporate owners and aids of the ferry boat company who in my opinion are the biggest villains get a slap on the wrist.

The light punishment for corporate criminals in Korea continues:

Yoo Dae-gyun, the eldest son of the late Yoo Byung-eun, the de facto owner of Chonghaejin Marine that operated the sunken ferry Sewol, was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday in district court.

The Incheon District Court found him guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust.

The sentence was lighter than the four years imprisonment the prosecution had earlier demanded.

According to the court, the Yoo took 7.3 billion won in fees from seven companies owned by his family, including Chonghaejin, for using a trademark held by him from May 2002 to last December.

He obtained trademark rights for the name of Sewol’s sister ferry, Ohamana, and Chonghaejin paid him 3.5 billion won for the use of the name.

“We recognize Yoo embezzled the money under the name of trademark use and advisory service fees by taking advantage of the fact that he was the son of the senior Yoo who established those companies,” the court said.  [Korea Times]

Look at the sentences the other Yoo family members and aids received:

In the meantime, the late senior Yoo’s brothers, Byung-il and Byung-ho, were given a suspended jail term and two years in prison, respectively, for embezzlement and breach of trust at the companies for which they worked, which were also set up by the Yoo family.

Four other aides to the late senior Yoo, who were heads or high-ranking officials of the companies set up by the family, were sentenced to two to four years for embezzlement or breach of trust as well. Six other aides received suspended jail terms for the same charges.

How come I have a feeling that backroom deals were worked out for these sentences to keep people quiet about their collusion with government officials?

(URGENT) Parties agree to dismantle Coast Guard and National Emergency Management Agency http://t.co/jLXheZKfx1

— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) October 31, 2014

South Korea ferry disaster: prosecutors seek death penalty for captain http://t.co/I0oWsURT8m

— South Korea Daily (@SouthKoreaDaily) October 27, 2014

Via the Marmot’s Hole comes this news about a conservative group that decided to show their displeasure about the hunger strikes over the Sewol ferry accident by holding a pizza party:

On Saturday, a group of conservative extremists pulled off an eating binge at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul, right next to the bereaved families of victims of the April 16 ferry sinking who are involved in a hunger strike demanding a thorough investigation of the disaster. The 100 people in attendance are members of the Ilgan Best (Ilbe), an online community of conservatives. They sang and ate pizza and fried chicken to mock the hunger strike the victims’ families have been staging since they lost their children in the ferry sinking. A special Sewol ferry law has not been approved yet due to their opposition to some aspects of it.

One blogger built a dog house and put dog food at the site where the group held their rude ceremony with a banner reading “This is where those who are worse than dogs have their food.” The partisan wrangling over the Sewol ferry law has spilled over into society, sending extremists to carry out insensitive acts.

Sponsors said their performance had the simple message of demanding that Gwanghwamum Plaza, which has turned into a stage for political protest, be returned to citizens. They claimed they were well-behaved and cleaned up the area afterwards.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.