Korean ferry victims’ kin criticize president’s apology

SEOUL: Families of victims in the deadly sinking of a South Korean ferry criticized President Park Geun Hye for failing to mention those still missing in her public apology Monday and said her push to disband the coast guard falls short of their demands.
“We want a president who treasures the life of each missing person,” Kim Byong Kwon said Tuesday at a news conference carried on YTN, reading a statement prepared by families of both victims and survivors of the April 16 sinking. “We couldn’t find anywhere a single mention of the fact that the remaining 17 missing are also members of the Republic of Korea.”
Park apologized in a televised address to the nation Monday over the disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing and said she would hand over the operations of the coast guard to other agencies, a move that faces parliamentary scrutiny. The coast guard has been under fire since the Sewol capsized off the southwestern coast and only 172 of its 476 passengers and crew were rescued.
More than 320 of the passengers aboard the five-deck ferry were students from a high school near Seoul on an excursion to the resort island of Jeju. Only 75 survived.
Park has seen her public approval rating plunge as public grief turned to anger toward the government over the sinking and the rescue operation. A group of Seoul National University professors released a statement Tuesday calling on Park to thoroughly reform her office and other government agencies in response to the public criticism.
An investigation into Park’s office should begin while the search remains under way until the last victim is recovered, the families said Tuesday.
“Please support the coast guard and the team conducting search operations even at this moment,” Kim said. “Disbanding the coast guard and firing those responsible isn’t the answer.”
As divers battled strong currents and low visibility to find the missing, prosecutors on May 15 indicted all 15 crew members involved in navigating the Sewol, including Captain Lee Joon Seok and three others on homicide charges. Homicide is punishable by death in S. Korea, though no one has been executed for the offense since 1997. While the 15 crew abandoned ship, the passengers were told to stay put.