https://www.scmp.com/rss/313535/feed On April 16, 2014, a passenger ferry sank off the southern coast of South Korea The 6,825-tonne ferry, which had sailed out of the western port of Incheon the previous evening, ran into trouble some 20 kilometres (13 miles) off the island of Byungpoong. Of the 450 passengers on board the ferry bound for the southern resort island of Jeju, 325 were students from a high school in Ansan, south of Seoul. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A South Korean ferry ran aground after the helmsman became distracted by his mobile phone, a member of the coastguard said on Thursday. All 267 passengers and crew were safely brought to a nearby port after the ferry crashed on an uninhabited island off South Korea’s southwestern coast. The passenger vessel was travelling from Jeju Island to the port city of Mokpo when it ran aground after 8pm (local time) on Wednesday, authorities said. A preliminary investigation found that “the officer... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3333488/helmsmans-phone-distraction-blamed-south-korean-ferry-grounding?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3333488/helmsmans-phone-distraction-blamed-south-korean-ferry-grounding?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Nov 2025 03:50:47 +0000 For weeks after 158 people were crushed to death in a Seoul alleyway, Song Hae-jin searched for the right psychological care for her teenage son. Lee Jae-hyun, 16, was with his two best friends in the trendy district of Itaewon when last year’s Halloween night out took a fatal turn. They were caught in the terrible crush of people in the warren of narrow streets that sits at the heart of the South Korean capital. “One was behind him so he couldn’t see his last moment, but the other friend was... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3221146/there-huge-pressure-developed-worlds-suicide-hot-spot-south-korea-battles-toxic-cocktail-issues?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3221146/there-huge-pressure-developed-worlds-suicide-hot-spot-south-korea-battles-toxic-cocktail-issues?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:10 +0000 When the Sewol ferry capsized off South Korea in April 2014, killing 304 people, most of them schoolchildren, the head of a controversial religious sect emerged as the ship’s de facto owner whose profit-driven remodelling of the vessel to carry extra passengers and cargo doomed it to a watery grave. During the impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye amid corruption and influence-peddling allegations less than three years later, the daughter of a shamanistic cult leader who was among Park’s... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3052915/korean-cults-missing-link-between-coronavirus-sewol-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3052915/korean-cults-missing-link-between-coronavirus-sewol-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Mar 2020 05:45:07 +0000 A South Korean court ruled on Friday that the children of the late owner of the Sewol ferry that sank in 2014, killing over 300 people, should reimburse the government for about US$146 million it incurred in handling the disaster. The Seoul Central District Court ordered three children who inherited the assets of Yoo Byung-eun, head of ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine Co, to pay 170 billion won to the government, holding the late billionaire responsible for failing to prevent the tragedy. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3046539/sewol-ferry-disaster-owners-children-ordered-pay-south-korean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3046539/sewol-ferry-disaster-owners-children-ordered-pay-south-korean?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jan 2020 08:16:02 +0000 3.5/5 stars In Birthday, South Korean heavyweights Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon deliver a masterclass in on-screen bereavement as parents grieving after their son’s death in the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. Viewers looking for a dramatic reconstruction of the tragedy, or an investigation into its controversial aftermath, will be sorely disappointed, however. Writer-director Lee Jong-un trains his focus solely on the Jeong family, and specifically the efforts of its estranged patriarch Jung-il... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3012101/birthday-film-review-jeon-do-yeon-sul-kyung-gu-mournful?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3012101/birthday-film-review-jeon-do-yeon-sul-kyung-gu-mournful?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 May 2019 09:00:14 +0000 When Ahn So-young was 27, her parents became concerned about her all-consuming commitment to a fringe church group called Shincheonji. They enrolled her in a counselling programme to help her break her attachment to the group. Ahn became so dejected she tried to kill herself by swallowing soap and shampoo. Anh had been a member of Shincheonji for five years. She spent all her time with the group, even handing out surveys at university to attract potential new members, and eventually quit her... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3010763/whats-behind-south-koreas-attraction-fringe-churches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3010763/whats-behind-south-koreas-attraction-fringe-churches?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 May 2019 08:45:06 +0000 A South Korean court ruled on Thursday that the government and the operator of the Sewol ferry, which sank in 2014 killing 304 people mostly school children, must compensate the victims’ families. The ferry was structurally unsound, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn when it capsized off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014, South Korean investigators said, placing the nation in deep grief for months. A group of 354 members of the bereaved families of 118 students filed a lawsuit in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2155948/south-korea-court-orders-us177000-compensation-victims-2014?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2155948/south-korea-court-orders-us177000-compensation-victims-2014?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jul 2018 04:54:18 +0000 Salvage workers who raised South Korea’s sunken Sewol ferry have found remains believed to be one of the victims missing since the 2014 disaster, the maritime ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said in a statement it would hold a briefing on “finding human remains suspected to be one of the missing victims”. The wreck was brought to the surface last week, nearly three years after it went down killing more than 300 people, and placed onto a semi-submersible ship that will finally bring it to... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2082766/possible-human-remains-found-after-sewol-ferry-raised-seabed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2082766/possible-human-remains-found-after-sewol-ferry-raised-seabed?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Mar 2017 07:48:27 +0000 A 6,800-tonne South Korean ferry emerged from the water on Thursday, nearly three years after it capsized and sank into violent seas off the country’s southwestern coast, an emotional moment for the country that continues to search for closure to one of its deadliest disasters ever. More than 300 people — most of whom were students on a high school trip — died when the Sewol sank on April 16, 2014, touching off an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2081488/sewol-rises-south-korean-ferry-sank-three-years-ago-lifted-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2081488/sewol-rises-south-korean-ferry-sank-three-years-ago-lifted-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Mar 2017 04:48:58 +0000 South Korea says efforts to lift the Sewol ferry that sank more than two years ago may drag on into next year, with salvage operations hampered by poor visibility and the sheer scale of the undertaking. The 6,825 tonne vessel was carrying 476 people when it capsized and sank off the southwestern island of Jindo in April 2014. In what swiftly became one of the country’s worst maritime disasters, 304 people died – the majority of them high-school students on an organised trip. The salvage project,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2028743/further-delays-ahead-sunken-sewol-ferry-gets-raised-seabed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2028743/further-delays-ahead-sunken-sewol-ferry-gets-raised-seabed?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:01:50 +0000 Grieving relatives threw white chrysanthemums over the side of a boat at the place where the Sewol ferry sunk exactly two years ago, as the country marked the anniversary of the disaster on Saturday. A total of 304 people died, mostly students, when the Sewol sank off the south-western island of Jindo, in a tragedy that shocked and enraged the country. “Son, how are you? I’ve come to see you,” a father shouted from the deck of a coastguard vessel that had brought mourners to the site of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1936326/two-years-after-sewol-tragedy-agony-continues-families-drowned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1936326/two-years-after-sewol-tragedy-agony-continues-families-drowned?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Apr 2016 05:11:33 +0000 South Korean officials announced Tuesday that a Chinese-led consortium had won the bidding to take on the massive task of raising the Sewol ferry that sank with the loss of over 300 lives a year ago. The 6,825-tonne passenger ship sank off the country’s southwest coast in April 2014. Most of the dead were children on a school trip. Nine remain unaccounted for in the accident, which deeply traumatised the nation, and the families of those still missing had led a campaign for the ferry to be... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1846392/chinas-state-run-shanghai-salvage-wins-us73-million-contract?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1846392/chinas-state-run-shanghai-salvage-wins-us73-million-contract?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Aug 2015 07:30:45 +0000 The South Korean ferry captain responsible for last year’s disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren, was given an increased sentence of life in prison today by an appellate court that convicted him of homicide. A district court in November had sentenced Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers in need, but acquitted him of homicide. Victims’ relatives criticised the verdict at the time, saying it was too lenient. Prosecutors earlier... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1778836/south-korean-ferry-captain-sees-prison-term-increased-life-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1778836/south-korean-ferry-captain-sees-prison-term-increased-life-over?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Apr 2015 09:15:15 +0000 South Korea's president vowed to raise the sunken Sewol ferry yesterday, but failed to appease grieving relatives on the first anniversary of the disaster that claimed 304 lives - most of them schoolchildren. "I will take the necessary steps to salvage the ship at the earliest possible date," Park Geun-hye announced during a brief visit to the southern island of Jindo - the closest landfall to the site where the Sewol sank on April 16. Her announcement followed weeks of protests by victims'... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1768046/south-korean-president-park-geun-hye-vows-raise-sunken-ferry-sewol?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1768046/south-korean-president-park-geun-hye-vows-raise-sunken-ferry-sewol?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2015 15:30:45 +0000 A day of mourning for the 304 victims of the Sewol ferry sinking was overtaken by acrimony on Thursday, as organisers called off a ceremony planned to mark its one-year anniversary to protest against the South Korean government’s response to the disaster. The main group representing bereaved families said the government had let them down again by failing to announce by the anniversary a decision to raise the ship in hopes of finding the bodies of nine victims still missing. The group’s leader... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1767856/angry-and-divided-south-korea-mourns-anniversary-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1767856/angry-and-divided-south-korea-mourns-anniversary-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2015 11:54:00 +0000 It has been a year since the sinking of the South Korean ferry, the Sewol, which claimed 304 lives, most of them students from Danwon High School in Ansan. The accident - largely blamed on the ship's illegal redesign and overloading but also linked to the deeper problems of corruption and lax safety standards - plunged the nation into a months-long period of intense mourning. For the familes of the students who died, the past year has been one of unimaginable sorrow. Some of the families have... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1767539/homes-broken-hearts-how-south-korean-parents-cope-after-sewol?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1767539/homes-broken-hearts-how-south-korean-parents-cope-after-sewol?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2015 06:15:45 +0000 More than 100 relatives of victims of South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster tearfully cast flowers into the sea yesterday at an emotional memorial event on the eve of the tragedy's first anniversary. In bright sunshine and on a calm sea, the relatives were taken by boat to the large yellow buoy that marks the site where the ferry sank on April 16 last year with the loss of 304 lives - most of them high school students. Lying on the seabed 40 metres below, the sunken ferry remains a highly sensitive... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1767227/south-korean-relatives-mourn-victims-sewol-ferry-disaster-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1767227/south-korean-relatives-mourn-victims-sewol-ferry-disaster-year?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:00:30 +0000 The head of the company that operated South Korea's ill-fated Sewol ferry was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday, after being convicted of manslaughter over the disaster that killed more than 300 people. A court in the southern city of Gwangju determined that Kim Han-sik, CEO of Chonghaejin Marine, had allowed the ferry to be routinely overloaded and approved illegal renovations to increase its passenger capacity. The 6,825-tonne Sewol was carrying 476 people - most of them high school... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1644759/south-korean-head-sewol-operator-jailed-10-years-manslaughter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1644759/south-korean-head-sewol-operator-jailed-10-years-manslaughter?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Nov 2014 14:00:30 +0000 The captain of the South Korean disaster ferry Sewol was sentenced yesterday to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers when his ship sank in April. But the court acquitted Lee Joon-seok of homicide, concluding there was no proof he knew his actions would cause the more than 300 deaths that shocked and outraged the country. The verdict came on the same day searches were called off for the final nine victims and amid continuing grief and finger-pointing over one of the worst... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1637301/south-korea-ferry-disaster-captain-jailed-36-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1637301/south-korea-ferry-disaster-captain-jailed-36-years?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Nov 2014 05:45:38 +0000 The son of the South Korean tycoon blamed for April’s ferry disaster was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for embezzlement, the first sentencing of any member of the reclusive billionaire family on charges linked to the sinking. Yoo Dae-kyun, 44, was found guilty of siphoning off some US$7.2 million from Chonghaejin Marine Company, the operator of the stricken ferry, and its six sister companies between 2002 and late last year. “The accused is found guilty of embezzlement ... He... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1632568/south-korea-ferry-owners-son-jailed-three-years-embezzlement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1632568/south-korea-ferry-owners-son-jailed-three-years-embezzlement?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Nov 2014 07:50:24 +0000 Hwang In-yeol and his wife waited seven years to have a child, and then she was born on October 29, 1997. After a ferry disaster in April that killed her and 303 others, the couple waited again for nearly seven months to see Ji-hyeon's body. The vigil just ended, when divers retrieved their only child's body on what would have been her 17th birthday. "The saddest birthday party on the earth," read a headline in the Hankyoreh newspaper yesterday, alongside a picture showing a sobbing Hwang... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1628511/body-sewol-victim-retrieved-what-would-have-been-17th-birthday?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1628511/body-sewol-victim-retrieved-what-would-have-been-17th-birthday?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Oct 2014 21:24:10 +0000 The first body found in three months was being recovered Tuesday from the sunken South Korean ferry, increasing the official death toll to 295, officials said. The government task force said in a statement the body was found around a women’s toilet in the ship. The badly decayed body was being pulled up to the surface and DNA tests were planned to identify the victim, according to task force officials. The Sewol ferry sank in April. The body is the first recovered since July 18. Nine victims are... https://www.scmp.com/article/1626802/victims-body-recovered-sunken-south-korean-ferry-sewol?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1626802/victims-body-recovered-sunken-south-korean-ferry-sewol?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2014 10:11:53 +0000 South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that capsized in April, leaving 304 people, most of them schoolchildren, dead or missing in a trial of 15 crew who escaped the vessel before it sank. Lee Joon-seok, 68, who has been charged with homicide, should be sentenced to death for failing to carry out his duty, which in effect amounted to homicide, the prosecution told the court, resting its case in a trial that has taken place amid intense public anger... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1625816/south-korea-prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-captain-doomed-ferry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1625816/south-korea-prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-captain-doomed-ferry?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:09:08 +0000 “Sewol ferry recovery update No. 377 ... Days since last body found -- 88.”  Six months after South Korea’s worst maritime disaster, the official e-mails keep coming -- sometimes several a day -- recording every detail of a largely forgotten and ignored operation. Weather and sea conditions permitting, they detail the latest mission by divers to penetrate the sunken vessel in the search for 10 bodies that remain unaccounted for. The last body to be pulled from the upturned ship was way back on... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1616808/anger-anguish-six-months-after-south-korea-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1616808/anger-anguish-six-months-after-south-korea-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Oct 2014 02:29:41 +0000 Organisers of Asia's largest film festival defended their decision to air a controversial documentary on the South Korean ferry tragedy as the event, visited by a record number of people, drew to a close yesterday. The world premiere of the Korean documentary Diving Bell (or The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol) cast a long shadow at the 10-day 19th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). The film questions rescue operations - and the use of the piece of equipment from which it takes its title... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1614679/controversy-over-ferry-tragedy-piece-rocks-busan-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1614679/controversy-over-ferry-tragedy-piece-rocks-busan-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Oct 2014 22:26:38 +0000 The captain at the heart of South Korea's ferry disaster acknowledged during his murder trial yesterday that he had erred in leaving an inexperienced crew member at the helm when the vessel capsized. Testifying for the first time in court, Lee Joon-seok also denied allegations by some of the crew that he was playing games on his mobile phone when the 6,825-tonne Sewol ran into trouble. The passenger ferry capsized and sank on April 16, with the loss of more than 300 lives - most of them school... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1611634/sewol-ferry-disaster-captain-admits-error-leaving-inexperienced-crew?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1611634/sewol-ferry-disaster-captain-admits-error-leaving-inexperienced-crew?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:11:38 +0000 The driver of the late owner of the ferry that sunk in South Korea turned himself in yesterday, potentially unlocking the mystery of the man's final days. 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. The structurally defective and heavily overloaded ferry capsized and sank on a routine journey on April 16, killing 304... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1562099/south-korean-driver-sewol-owner-gives-himself-prosecutors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1562099/south-korean-driver-sewol-owner-gives-himself-prosecutors?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:05:05 +0000 Student survivors of South Korea’s ferry disaster, testifying for the first time on Monday in the murder trial of the captain and crew, recalled being repeatedly told to stay put as the ship was sinking. “They kept saying the same thing over and over,” one said, describing how she and classmates obeyed the order until the ferry had listed so far that the door to their cabin was above their heads. Another described watching a wave sweep her classmates back inside the sinking boat. The actual... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1561019/student-survivors-testify-south-korea-ferry-homicide-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1561019/student-survivors-testify-south-korea-ferry-homicide-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Jul 2014 03:10:30 +0000 Police yesterday detained the eldest son of the owner of the South Korean sunken ferry after two months on the run. It came 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 him while he was a fugitive, Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said. Yoo is a major shareholder in Chonghaejin Marine, the operator of the ferry that sank in April. His father, Yoo Byung-eun, had founded the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1559268/yoo-dae-gyun-son-south-korean-ferry-tycoon-detained?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1559268/yoo-dae-gyun-son-south-korean-ferry-tycoon-detained?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Jul 2014 14:15:45 +0000 A badly decomposed body found surrounded by liquor bottles in an orchard last month was that of Yoo Byung-eun, the fugitive billionaire businessman blamed for April's South Korean ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, police confirmed yesterday. The body was found in a field of apricot trees in the southern city of Suncheon on June 12, police station chief Wu Hyung-ho said. He said DNA and fingerprint samples taken from the body matched those of Yoo, 73. Yoo owned the ferry … and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1557141/south-korean-police-find-body-fugitive-sewol-ferry-owner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1557141/south-korean-police-find-body-fugitive-sewol-ferry-owner?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jul 2014 01:55:05 +0000 Relatives of victims of South Korea's ferry disaster wept amid angry scenes in court yesterday as prosecutors played video footage of the sinking vessel during the murder trial of the captain and crew. The video, taken from coastguard boats and helicopters, showed the last moments of the 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry as it listed and then capsized on April 16 with the loss of around 300 lives. Among the dead were some 250 students from the same high school in Ansan city just south of Seoul. Watch:... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1549958/relatives-south-korean-ferry-disaster-victims-weep-and-jeer-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1549958/relatives-south-korean-ferry-disaster-victims-weep-and-jeer-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2014 15:15:15 +0000 After two failed attempts to appoint a new prime minister, South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced on Thursday her “agonised” decision to retain the incumbent who had resigned over April’s ferry disaster. In an effort to assuage criticism of the government’s emergency response, Chung Hong-won had resigned just 10 days after the Sewol passenger ferry sank on April 16 with the loss of 300 lives. Park accepted his resignation, but Chun was asked to remain in the job until a successor was... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1540795/south-korean-pm-keeps-job-after-double-nominee-debacle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1540795/south-korean-pm-keeps-job-after-double-nominee-debacle?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jun 2014 02:29:02 +0000 Holding hands as they walked through the school gates, some fighting back tears, 75 children who survived South Korea’s worst maritime disaster in 20 years, returned to class on Wednesday vowing to remember their lost friends. Wailing parents of the 250 children who did not survive, when a ferry taking them on a school trip capsized and sank, greeted the children outside the Danwon high school. Some grieving parents held signs, one of which read: “We love you.” “Grown-ups are constantly telling... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1540237/south-korean-ferry-survivors-return-school-vowing-remember-lost-friends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1540237/south-korean-ferry-survivors-return-school-vowing-remember-lost-friends?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jun 2014 05:08:20 +0000 Student survivors of South Korea’s ferry disaster will testify in the trial of the captain and crew in a special session at a courtroom in their traumatised home town, a district court ruled on Tuesday. The court in Gwangju, 265 kilometres south of Seoul, said the decision had been made to spare the students any further stress. The ruling came as the court began to hear evidence in the trial of the captain and 14 crew, who are charged with criminal negligence and abandoning the passengers of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1539604/student-survivors-testify-south-korea-ferry-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1539604/student-survivors-testify-south-korea-ferry-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Jun 2014 08:01:05 +0000 South Korean police arrested a younger brother of the country’s most wanted man, a businessman linked to a ferry disaster in which hundreds of school children drowned, on Sunday as authorities cast a wide net for the fugitive’s family. Yoo Byung-ho was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement, a prosecution official said. Prosecutors and police are seeking Yoo Byungun, 73, who has eluded one of the country’s biggest manhunts for more than a month. They have arrested his wife, younger sister and her... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1538326/younger-brother-south-korea-ferry-disaster-fugitive-arrested?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1538326/younger-brother-south-korea-ferry-disaster-fugitive-arrested?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Jun 2014 11:12:08 +0000 The wife of South Korea's most wanted man, whose sons own the company that operated a ferry which sank, drowning hundreds of schoolchildren, was arrested yesterday, 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.... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1537579/south-korea-closes-net-round-family-sunken-ferry-owner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1537579/south-korea-closes-net-round-family-sunken-ferry-owner?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jun 2014 06:45:00 +0000 Prosecutors said yesterday that the CEO and four employees of the firm that operated a doomed South Korean ferry caused the vessel's sinking by overloading it with poorly stowed cargo after a risky redesign and had neglected safety by spending less than US$2 last year on training. The defendants countered that the cause of the April disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing was not yet clear. The five had been expected to verbally enter pleas at the preliminary hearing at Gwangju... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1536723/south-korean-ferry-operator-ceo-enter-plea-ferry-sinking-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1536723/south-korean-ferry-operator-ceo-enter-plea-ferry-sinking-case?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Jun 2014 02:45:00 +0000 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... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1534747/south-korea-ferry-crew-claim-rescue-was-coastguards-job?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1534747/south-korea-ferry-crew-claim-rescue-was-coastguards-job?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:23:49 +0000 South Korea’s president replaced seven Cabinet members Friday in an apparent bid to win back sagging public trust in her administration after April’s ferry disaster. President Park Geun-hye has come under harsh criticism for the government’s handling of the sinking of the Sewol, which left 304 people – mostly high school students on a school trip – dead or missing. She had already nominated a new prime minister and replaced her defence minister and intelligence chief. The most high-profile... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1531514/south-korean-president-shakes-cabinet-win-trust-after-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1531514/south-korean-president-shakes-cabinet-win-trust-after-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jun 2014 05:00:45 +0000 The mother of a student victim of South Korea’s ferry disaster has filed a test lawsuit seeking damages from the government and the vessel’s owners, a court spokesman said on Friday. It marks the first move toward litigation by any relatives of the nearly 300 people killed in the April 16 tragedy, which rocked the entire country. The suit filed with the Seoul Central District Court claims 30 million won (HK$228,336) in compensation from the government and the Chonghaejin Marine, which owned and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1531460/victims-mother-files-first-damages-suit-over-south-korea-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1531460/victims-mother-files-first-damages-suit-over-south-korea-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jun 2014 03:30:30 +0000 Thousands of South Korean police forced their way into the compound of a splinter religious group yesterday in their search for a fugitive businessman wanted in connection with April's ferry disaster. Live television reports showed police officers, many in full riot gear, streaming into the sprawling church and farming complex in a morning raid in Anseong, 80km south of Seoul. A spokesman for the Gyeonggi province police force said 6,000 officers were involved. The huge operation came a day... https://www.scmp.com/article/1529840/south-korean-police-raid-christian-compound-search-ferry-owner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1529840/south-korean-police-raid-christian-compound-search-ferry-owner?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jun 2014 02:15:45 +0000 Watch: Trial begins for South Korea ferry captain and crew With South Korean divers still searching for victims of April’s ferry disaster, the murder trial of 15 crew members opened on Tuesday in a highly-charged atmosphere that raised concerns about a fair hearing. The trial began in the southern city of Gwangju in a packed courtroom which included grieving relatives of some of the 292 confirmed victims of the April 16 tragedy. Captain Lee Joon-seok and three senior crew members are accused of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1529218/murder-trial-opens-south-korea-ferry-captain-and-crew?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1529218/murder-trial-opens-south-korea-ferry-captain-and-crew?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jun 2014 06:37:51 +0000 South Koreans voted on Wednesday in regional and mayoral elections seen as a referendum on embattled President Park Geun-hye and her government’s handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people in April. The sinking of the ferry Sewol has sidelined traditional campaign issues, such as jobs, education and welfare, and focused attention on a debate over the perceived failure of Asia’s fourth-largest economy to enforce safety standards. “Having seen the lax response to the Sewol... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1525192/south-korean-ballots-focus-attention-handling-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1525192/south-korean-ballots-focus-attention-handling-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jun 2014 05:15:30 +0000 A South Korean businessman and Christian sect leader, wanted on charges tied to a ferry disaster in which more than 300 passengers drowned, sought asylum at a Seoul embassy but was rejected, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Yoo Byung-un, 73, is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from his control of a web of business interests centred on an investment firm owned by his sons that owned the operator of the doomed Sewol that sank on April 16. “By international law,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1524546/south-korean-linked-ferry-disaster-fails-asylum-bid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1524546/south-korean-linked-ferry-disaster-fails-asylum-bid?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Jun 2014 07:56:38 +0000 South Koreans elect new local representatives on Wednesday in elections widely seen as a barometer of President Park Geun-hye’s response to a ferry disaster in April that killed more than 300 people, most of them children from the same school. The sinking of the Sewol has sidelined traditional campaign issues such as jobs, education and welfare, and instead focused voter attention on a fierce national debate over the government’s failure to enforce oversight on safety. “This election is going to... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1523836/south-korea-elections-seen-vote-handling-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1523836/south-korea-elections-seen-vote-handling-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:45:30 +0000 Hundreds of followers of a religious sect submitted on Wednesday to a search of their rural commune by South Korean authorities seeking the arrest of the head of the family that operated a ferry which capsized last month killing more than 300 people. The sect’s leader Yoo Byung-un is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from a web of business holdings centreed around I-One-I, an investment vehicle owned by his sons that ran the shipping company Chonghaejin... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1517214/south-korean-sect-submits-search-leader-linked-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1517214/south-korean-sect-submits-search-leader-linked-ferry-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 May 2014 07:22:13 +0000 South Korean President Park Geun-hye took tearful responsibility today for the mishandling of last month’s Sewol ferry disaster, admitting that many lives were lost through incompetence and a lack of preparedness. Her comments highlighted the failure of the coastguard’s immediate response to the tragedy, and acknowledged the complaints of the victims’ relatives that many more lives might have been saved. Watch: Tearful South Korea president says 'responsibility lies with me' “I have decided to... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1515428/south-korea-disband-coastguard-park-deems-ferry-rescue-failure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1515428/south-korea-disband-coastguard-park-deems-ferry-rescue-failure?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 May 2014 02:30:45 +0000 South Korean prosecutors indicted on Thursday four crew members of a ferry that capsized in April killing more than 280 passengers for manslaughter, a senior prosecutor said. The captain and three other crew members were indicted on charges of manslaughter through gross negligence, Yonhap news agency reported. They are accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers, mostly high school students on a school excursion, to stay where they were. If convicted, they could face... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1512521/four-crew-members-south-korea-ferry-indicted-manslaughter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1512521/four-crew-members-south-korea-ferry-indicted-manslaughter?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 May 2014 02:50:37 +0000 South Korea has recognised three people who died saving others in last month's ferry capsize as national "martyrs" - lending a heroic chapter to a disaster narrative dominated by accusations of cowardice, corruption and incompetence. All three were part-time crew members, including an engaged couple - Kim Ki-woong and Jung Hyun-seon - who could have escaped the sinking vessel but stayed behind to help trapped passengers. The third was Park Ji-young, 21, the youngest crew member, who became a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1510820/three-south-korean-ferry-disaster-heroes-named-national-martyrs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1510820/three-south-korean-ferry-disaster-heroes-named-national-martyrs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 May 2014 14:13:40 +0000 South Korea’s parliament is to open an investigation into the ferry disaster that has left 300 people dead or missing, politicians confirmed Sunday, as the government counters criticism of its handling of the tragedy. A special parliamentary session will open this week and a number of committees will begin work from Monday, the government and opposition said, dedicated to confirming the cause of and responsibility for the sinking of the Sewol. Park Young-Sun, of the main opposition New Politics... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1509689/south-korea-parliament-begin-ferry-disaster-probe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1509689/south-korea-parliament-begin-ferry-disaster-probe?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 May 2014 05:22:22 +0000