Acts ‘like murder,’ S. Korean leader says of ferry crew

A relative of a passenger aboard the sunken ferry Sewol watches the official list of the dead victims at a port in Jindo, South Korea, Monday, April 21, 2014. Divers continued the grim work of recovering bodies from inside the sunken South Korean ferry  in the water off the southern coast Monday, as a newly released transcript showed the ship was crippled by confusion and indecision well after it began listing. The transcript suggests that the chaos may have added to a death toll that could eventually exceed 300. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A relative of a passenger aboard the sunken ferry Sewol watches the official list of the dead victims at a port in Jindo, South Korea, Monday, April 21, 2014. Divers continued the grim work of recovering bodies from inside the sunken South Korean ferry in the water off the southern coast Monday, as a newly released transcript showed the ship was crippled by confusion and indecision well after it began listing. The transcript suggests that the chaos may have added to a death toll that could eventually exceed 300. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

MOKPO, South Korea - South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday castigated the captain and some crew members of a sunken ferry, saying their actions in abandoning a vessel with hundreds of passengers still aboard were “tantamount to murder.”

“The actions of the captain and some crew members just cannot be understood with common sense. They are like murder and should not be tolerated,” Park told her senior secretaries Monday, according to a report of the meeting issued by the presidential office. “Lumps of shock and rage are developing in the hearts of not only me but also of the people.”

Park’s comments came in the face of steady criticism about her government’s response to the disaster and a growing sense of anger in South Korea about reported incompetence aboard the ferry Sewol.

Since divers found a way over the weekend to enter the submerged ferry, the death count has risen rapidly. Officials said this morning that fatalities had reached 104. More than 200 remained missing.

The captain, Lee Joonseok, was arrested Friday along with two other crew members, and prosecutors on Monday said four additional crew members - two first mates, one second mate and an engineer - have also been detained. All face charges stemming from the quick abandonment of the ship and their failure to first assist passengers in evacuating.

An engineer on the ferry who wasn’t arrested tried to commit suicide after questioning, prosecutor Ahn Sang Don said. Investigators haven’t ruled out pressing charges against more crew members as the probe progresses, he said.

As South Korea mourns and prepares for a long series of funerals, it is also grappling with an emerging criminal case that could sort out some of the responsibility for the disaster. Some South Koreans, while acknowledging the apparent irresponsibility of the crew, said Park’s comments on the case were made prematurely and could complicate the already emotional proceedings.

During the meeting with advisers, Park criticized the captain for leaving a 25-year old third mate - “an entry-level worker” - in charge of navigating the narrow waterway where the ferry ran into trouble, according to the transcript from the presidential office.

Park also noted that a maritime operator on shore repeatedly urged the Sewol to evacuate its passengers - something the crew members said was impossible because the vessel had already tilted drastically.

“Right after the accident, the captain didn’t comply with orders for evacuation from [the maritime operator] and told the passengers to stay where they are,” Park said. “But he then abandoned them and escaped first. This is unthinkable legally and morally.”

Park also vowed an investigation into whether crew members had proper knowledge of safety measures and whether inspections had been carried out properly. She raised concern about the oversight of the Korea Shipping Association, a safety watchdog that also provides membership status to shipping companies. Park said that setup had resulted in “a systematic problem.”

Many relatives of the dead and missing have been critical of the government, which drew more anger Monday with the resignation of Song Young-chur, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Security and Public Administration.

Song, chief of the Regional Development Policy Bureau, reportedly tried to take a commemorative photo Sunday evening of the situation room in Jindo where government officials brief relatives of the missing.

Spokesman Min Kyungwook said the government accepted Song’s resignation “as a warning to others, as he has raised public resentment by trying to take commemorative photos without understanding the feeling of the families of the victims and lost persons.”

Investigators have focused on the crew members’ actions up to the sinking, with less attention so far given to what they did as it unfolded, prosecutor Yang Joong Jin said Sunday. The joint coast guard and prosecution team is analyzing phone messages sent by people on the vessel including those sent on Kakao Corp.’s KakaoTalk application,Ahn said.

The 6,825-ton vessel was sailing from Incheon to Jeju when it capsized and sank in the Yellow Sea. The exact cause of the disaster is unknown, but some investigators have speculated that a rapid turn could have knocked shipping containers and other heavy cargo out of place, throwing the boat off balance.

Ahn said Monday that the third mate has told investigators why she made the sharp turn, but he would not reveal her answer, adding that more investigation is needed.

An extensive transcript released Sunday of contact between the ferry and the shore indicated a period of indecision and chaos on board for nearly 45 minutes after the vessel’s distress call. If an evacuation order was ever given - the captain said it was, but many survivors said they never heard it - it came at a time when the vessel was listing severely and most passengers were unable to move.

Lee was photographed scampering off the vessel before it overturned and while hundreds were still trapped on board - in violation of South Korean maritime law. All 174 who were rescued managed to escape the vessel in the first hours Wednesday; no survivors have since been found.

Investigators have ordered dozens of people to appear for interviews, including officials from Chonghaejin Marine Co., which operated the ferry and in 2012 performed renovations to expand its capacity. Several of the company’s top executives face travel bans, South Korean media reported.

YTN, a South Korean news channel, reported that before the ill-fated ferry journey, Chonghaejin Marine had misreported information on a manifest given to the Korea Shipping Association, saying it was carrying 150 vehicles and 657 tons of cargo. In reality, YTN said, the ferry was much heavier, with 180 vehicles and 1,157 tons of cargo. That report could not be independently verified.

Information for this article was contributed by Chico Harlan and Yoonjung Seo of The Washington Post; by Heesu Lee, Sam Kim and Cynthia Kim of Bloomberg News; and by Gillian Wong, Hyung-jin Kim, Minjeong Hong, Raul Gallego, Foster Klug, Youkyung Lee, Jung-yoon Choi and Leon Drouin-Keith of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/22/2014

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