Special investigation begins into ferry disaster

A special investigation unit tasked with reinvestigating the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014 officially commenced work Thursday.

“I fully understand the gravity of the task I’m leading. I will do my best, considering it the last opportunity to reexamine the case,” said Lim Gwan-hyeok, the unit’s chief prosecutor.

A day earlier, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced that it would establish a special body to address resurfacing questions about the deadly accident that killed some 300 people -- mostly high school students on a field trip to Jeju Island from Incheon. 

The special unit will ask the special committee currently looking into the disaster to hand over their records.

In 2015, a year after the accident, the government launched a special committee to find out what happened and who was responsible for the disaster. 

In 2018, a second committee took over the role and revealed last month the latest findings that the Coast Guard at the time of the incident took more than four hours to transfer an emergency patient to a hospital. The high school student died on his way to the hospital.

The Coast Guard could have used a helicopter, but the officers used it to transport their commissioner instead, the committee said, noting that could constitute as an act of negligence.

The committee also suspects the Navy and Coast Guard of tampering with the digital video footage of the Sewol ferry sinking. The footage is considered crucial in discovering whether the government timely responded to the accident and exhausted all avenues in the rescue operations.

The special investigation unit, set to probe the suspicions raised by the committee so far, will also look into the whereabouts of then President Park Geun-hye during the rescue hours. She has been criticized for not doing her best to rescue the victims.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)