Sinking of MV Sewol
The ferry MV Sewol sank on the morning of April 16, 2014, en route from Incheon towards Jeju in South Korea.[16] The 6,825-ton vessel sent a distress signal from about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi; 1.5 nmi) north of Byeongpungdo at 08:58 KST (23:58 UTC, April 15, 2014).[17] Out of 476 passengers and crew, 304 died in the disaster, including around 250 students from Danwon High School in Ansan City.[18][19][20] Of the 172 survivors, more than half were rescued by fishing boats and other commercial vessels that arrived at the scene approximately 40 minutes before the Korea Coast Guard (KCG).[21]
Native name
세월호 침몰 사고
April 16, 2014
Around 8:30 a.m. to around 10:30 a.m. (KST)
1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) off Donggeochado,[1] South Jeolla, South Korea
Undetermined (see Causes)
5[2]
Cargo: ₩200 billion ($180 million)[5]
3 separate investigations[6]
Captain and 13 crew members[7]
Homicide (4 including the captain)[8]
Fleeing and abandoning ship (2)[9]
Negligence (9)[9]
Guilty
Life imprisonment (captain)
10 years (chief engineer)
18 months−12 years (13 other crew members)[10]
476[11][12][13] (325 Danwon High School students)[14]
172[15]
The sinking of Sewol resulted in widespread social and political reaction within South Korea. Many people criticized the actions of the ferry's captain and most of the crew.[22] Also criticized were the ferry's operator, Chonghaejin Marine, and the regulators who oversaw its operations,[23] along with the administration of President Park Geun-hye for her response to the disaster and attempts to downplay government culpability,[24] and the Korean Coast Guard for its poor handling of the disaster, and the perceived passivity of the rescue-boat crew on scene.[25] Outrage has also been expressed against the initial false reporting of the disaster by the government and South Korean media, who claimed everyone aboard had been rescued,[26][27] and against the government for prioritizing public image over the lives of its citizens in refusing help from other countries, and publicly downplaying the severity of the disaster.[28][29]
On May 15, 2014, the captain and three crew members were charged with murder, while the other eleven members of the crew were indicted for abandoning the ship.[30] As part of a government campaign to manage public sentiment over the official response to the sinking, an arrest warrant was issued for Yoo Byung-eun (described as the owner of Chonghaejin Marine), but he could not be found despite a nationwide manhunt. On July 22, 2014, police revealed that they had established that a dead man found in a field in Suncheon, roughly 290 kilometres (180 mi) south of Seoul, was Yoo.[18]
Survivors and casualties[edit]
At 11:01 a.m., Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation began reporting that all students had been rescued; this news was re-reported by other news organizations and continued until 11:26 a.m.[175] Around 11 a.m. KST, officers working for the educational departments for the Gyeonggi Province sent text messages to the students' parents stating that all students had been rescued.[176] The officers' belief was apparently confirmed by a police officer in the Danwon Police Department.[175]
Initial reports stated that rescuers retrieved 368 people from cold waters as the passengers, mostly students, had jumped overboard when the vessel started sinking; the South Korean government later corrected this statement, saying 295 passengers remained missing.[177] Twenty-two of the twenty-nine crew survived, including fifteen responsible for the navigation.[178]
In its 17 April morning edition, the Chosun Ilbo reported that 174 people had been rescued, four had died, and 284 were missing.[179] According to CNN and its affiliate YTN, six people died.[180] News1 Korea reported that, as of 8:00 a.m., 179 people had been rescued, six had died and 290 were missing.[149] Three more people were found dead at 11:00 a.m. and the confirmed death toll rose to nine.[181] At 10 p.m., Yonhap confirmed that the death toll had risen to fourteen.[182] Over the course of the following months, the death toll rose into the hundreds.[183][184][185] The death toll stood at 294 as of 22 July 2014, with ten missing; the date marked the recovery of the last cabin crew member.[186]
The sinking of Sewol is the deadliest ferry disaster in South Korea since 14 December 1970, when the sinking of the ferry Namyoung killed 326 out of the 338 people aboard.[187][188]
Litigation[edit]
On 3 June, the Gwangju District Court issued arrest warrants for a senior vessel safety operator of the Korea Shipping Association's Incheon unit and a vessel inspector of the KR's Mokpo unit.[231] Amongst fifteen crew accused of the sinking, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Captain Lee under the charge of homicide for failing to carry out his duty. Lead prosecutor Park Jae-eok said: "Lee supplied the cause of the sinking of the Sewol ... he has the heaviest responsibility for the accident. We ask that the court sentence him to death." While no formal pleas were made, Lee denied intent to kill. The others had lesser charges, including negligence.
On 11 November, the Gwangju District Court found Captain Lee guilty of negligence and sentenced him to thirty-six years' imprisonment. The judges said that he was clearly not the only person responsible for the tragedy and they accepted that his negligence did not amount to an intent to kill. Chief Engineer Park Gi-ho was found guilty of murder and jailed for thirty years. Thirteen other crew members were given jail sentences of up to twenty years imprisonment on charges including abandonment and violating maritime law. Relatives of victims were distraught at the verdict, with some weeping. Agence France-Presse reported that one woman screamed in the courtroom: "It's not fair! What about the lives of our children? They (the defendants) deserve worse than death!"[232]
In the cases against officials over the overloading of cargo, Kim Han-sik, Chonghaejin's chief executive, was found guilty of negligence and received a ten-year prison term. Six other Chonghaejin employees and a Korean Shipping Association official also received prison sentences.[233]
Following appeals by prosecutors and the accused, on 28 April 2015, Captain Lee was found guilty of murder and his sentence increased to life imprisonment, while those for fourteen other crew members were reduced to a maximum of twelve years, including ten years for Chief Engineer Park Gi-ho, whose murder conviction was overturned.[234] Judge Jeon Il-ho explained: "We drew a distinction between the Captain Lee Joon-seok, who has a grave responsibility, and crew members who took orders from the captain."[235] Kim Han-sik's sentence was also reduced to seven years on appeal.[236]
Aftermath[edit]
Government's report and concerns about public opinion[edit]
Based on the National Crisis Management Basic Guidelines' explicit provisions, the Blue House should have played the role of a control tower in a national crisis situation. However, this control tower, which was absent on April 16, 2014, became active only when the public opinion toward the government worsened after the disaster. To prevent the spread of criticism of their administration, the Blue House provided misleading information to the public and took actions with the purpose of polarizing the public according to their political interests. The crisis was viewed by the Blue House as a "crisis of the regime," and in specific instances when there was a divide in public sentiment, the president and the government attacked the individuals and groups who were critical of them of being "ideologically biased" and "pro-North Korea forces," and imposed restrictions. During this process, the Blue House utilized right-wing organizations and strengthened their conservative base by providing financial support to the organizations that cooperated with them or by appointing active personnel to key positions. The Blue House did not protect the victims, but instead stigmatized them as instigated by politically aligned groups. In this way, Park Geun-hye's Blue House distorted the victims' demands, aggravated social conflict, and even hindered comprehensive fact-finding investigation efforts aimed to improve future disaster response capabilities and enact special laws.[127]
The Social Disaster Special Investigation Committee confirmed that intelligence agencies such as the National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command illegally and unfairly supported the investigation and arrest operation of the Yoo Byung-eun family. At the time, the Blue House defined the Sewol ferry disaster as "a national disaster that caused suffering to the entire nation, caused by greedy expansion of wealth by the Yoo Byung-eun's family." The Blue House used the Yoo Byung-eun investigation and arrest operation as a trump card to deflect the government's responsibility for the Sewol Ferry disaster and to shift the blame onto the shipowner. The National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command actively supported the Blue House provisions in this matter.[127]
On 16 November 2016, a report about the disaster, compiled by the National Intelligence Service and intended for President Park, was publicized. The report referred to the sinking as "just a ferry accident (그저 하나의 여객선 사고)" and said "we must control the protest in the name of ferry accident (여객선 사고를 빌미로 한 투쟁을 제어해야 한다)." The report makes no mention of investigating the sinking, salvaging the hull, or supporting the victims' families, instead devoted to determining ways to "control the protesting attempt by the opposition forces in the name of the ferry accident and suggest a method about public opinion manipulation using the government-organized demonstrations."[237]
The sinking contributed to the political downfall of President Park. As criticism of her handling of the disaster grew stronger, Park's administration established a commission to monitor and prosecute her critics.[238] Tatsuya Kato, a Japanese journalist, was indicted on charges of defamation for reporting that Park had responded to the disaster by meeting with fringe religious leader Choi Soon-sil.[239][240] In 2016, the full extent of Choi's ties to Park emerged in South Korean media, which caused a corruption scandal that ultimately resulted in Park's impeachment by the National Assembly on 9 December. A unanimous Constitutional Court ruling on 10 March 2017 upheld the impeachment vote, ending her presidency.[241]
After Moon Jae-in was elected following Park's removal from office, documents revealed that Park had made a secret blacklist of artists to be barred from receiving any sort of government acknowledgement or sponsorship. It was further discovered that the initial purpose of this blacklist was to censor those who commemorated the Sewol victims in their artwork.[242] In July 2017, members of the Park administration were imprisoned for up to three years for their role in creating the illegal blacklist.[243]
A subsequent investigation by the Moon administration launched in October 2017 revealed President Park spent crucial early hours of the rescue operation in her bedroom, meeting with Choi and getting her hair done before attending emergency meetings at 5pm, eight hours following the sinking.[244] National security officials Kim Jang-soo and Kim Kwan-jin, and former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon, were prosecuted on charges of manipulating the Blue House records of Park's whereabouts on the day of the sinking.
The Disaster and State Crime[edit]
The arrest of Yoo Byung-eun and the confiscation of his property were key to ending the Sewol ferry scandal according to the Defense Security Command (DSC), and a special task force was organized to apprehend Yoo. The Defense Security Command argued that monitoring civilians in Geumsuwon, as well as collecting vast amounts of personal information on members of the Evangelical Baptist Church (Salvation Sect) were considered legitimate "administrative support." However, the activities of the Defense Security Command were determined to be operations that should only be carried out by investigative agencies, thus rendering these acts illegal as they could not be categorized as administrative support under the Administrative Procedures Act. It was also confirmed that these illegal actions taken by the Defense Security Command were regularly reported to the Blue House.[245]
The obstruction of the investigation by the Sewol Special Assistance Committee is considered to be a state crime committed deliberately and methodically. 'State crime' is a term used to describe human rights violations committed by the state itself. A government agency that was to cooperate with the Sewol Special Assistance Committee's investigation abused its authority to receive the details of the investigation, and together with the committee, used those details to hinder the investigation. Through this collusion, they were able to manipulate the situation.[246]
Media representation[edit]
The disaster is the subject of the 2014 documentary film The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol.[247] The director's cut of the film was made available for public viewing on YouTube on 31 August 2015.[248] Two British filmmakers that were living in South Korea during the tragedy, Neil George and Matthew Root, created the documentary After the Sewol, which was released in several forms between 2016 and 2020. George later reorganized the footage into Crossroads, with Root credited only as producer, with a 38-minute cut made viewable through Asian Boss. The film uses interviews with survivors, emergency response workers, and family members of the victims along with news coverage to create a study about the conflicting reports about disaster.[249] A separate short documentary In the Absence was created to showcase the disaster in real time, with audio, visual and multi-media messages and video from the victims. The documentary was nominated for Best Documentary Short in the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.[250]
The disaster was depicted in fiction in the film Birthday released in April 2019.
Victims' families[edit]
The 4–16 Coalition (translated name) represents some of the Sewol victims' families, and it has encouraged the investigation of the Sewol ferry accident.[294] The 4–16 Coalition evaluated the results of the investigation of the SDC, pointing out four major issues. First, the investigation of the failed rescue efforts on the day of the disaster was not conducted properly. Second, there were questionable acts committed by the Park administration during the investigation that were widely publicized, such as concealing information, interfering with the investigation of the sinking and rescue, violations of the rights of the victims' families, and illegal interrogations. Representatives from the group noted it was impossible to obtain data from Korea's intelligence agencies (the acting prime minister after Park was removed from office designated Park's activities on the day of the disaster as a matter of "presidential record", making the files unable to be accessed for up to 30 years[295]). Third, the cause of the sinking could not be determined. Fourth, various limitations and problems, including confusion due to lack of communication, were revealed in the investigation process.
Salvage[edit]
On 22 March 2017, the salvage operation began to raise the wreck of Sewol.[296] A Chinese consortium, Shanghai Salvage Company, was contracted by the government to carry out the operation.[297] The ship was lying on her port side, nearly forty metres below the surface. Diesel and oil were drained from the ship. All the cabins were sealed and a huge fence was erected on the seabed to prevent any wreckage from drifting away. A crane lifted the bow of the ship five degrees so that thirty-three lifting beams could be placed underneath. The salvage crew pumped water out of the ship's ballast tanks and attached air bags to increase the ship's buoyancy. Cables were attached to the lifting beams and strand jacks gradually lifted the ship to thirteen metres below the surface, where she was then attached to a barge.[298] Sewol was then towed and loaded onto a semi-submersible vessel, Dockwise White Marlin.[299] She was loaded onto self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) while on the vessel, which then transported her to shore. The vessel docked at Mokpo, where ALE were contracted to unload the ship using the SPMTs.[300] The wreck is located on a Mokpo dock at 34°45'30.69"N 126°21'3.30"E.
At the time of the ship's raising, nine passengers were still unaccounted for. In order of retrieval, the remains of teacher Go Chang-Seok were found at the sinking site after the ship's removal, followed by the remains of Danwon High School students Heo Da-Yun and Cho Eun-Hwa and passenger Lee Young-Sook inside the ship. For most victims at this point, only partial remains were retrieved and DNA testing was used to identify them.[301][302][303][304]
By the end of the search operations on 19 October 2018, five victims remained missing: Danwon High School students Nam Hyeon-Cheol (16) and Park Yeong-In (16); teacher Yang Seung-Jin (57); and father and son passengers Kwon Jae-Geun (48) and Kwon Hyeok-Gyu (6).[305]