Minister apologizes for concealing finding from Sewol

By Kim Se-jeong

Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Young-choon apologized to the families of the sunken ferry Sewol Thursday for a ministry official concealing the fact that a new piece of bone was recovered which might be from the remains of one of the five passengers still listed as missing.

“We feel deeply sorry for how we treated the family members and citizens who are yearning to see all the body parts recovered from the ferry,” Kim said in a nationally televised press conference.

He added that he is holding officials in charge of field operations accountable for what happened.

The ministry relieved Lee Cheol-jo, a ministry official in charge of overseeing the salvage and recovery operation, of his post as he was found to have concealed the finding.

Lee did not report the Nov. 17 discovery of the remains to his supervisors for about three days after he was briefed about it by Kim Hyun-tae, the ministry’s deputy chief of the on-site search team. Kim was removed from his post Wednesday.

The apology came three days after Minister Kim belatedly received a report of the case from Lee on Monday.

The ministry is currently conducting an internal investigation.

On Nov. 17, the search team found what appeared to be a new carpal bone during the search of the ferry Sewol. That was only a day after family members of the missing passengers announced they would stop demanding the search continue.

“We learned that to continue the search has become a source of contention and we don’t want our quest to recover remnants of our family members to trigger social division,” they said during an emotional press conference, Nov. 16.

The ministry learned that Kim Hyun-tae told his colleagues to remain silent about the recovery until Tuesday, which was after the family funerals for the five in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, and in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

The family members packed up their belongings and left Mokpo New Port for good, Sunday.

It was only Tuesday when the search team notified the family members about the new finding. It sent the bone to the National Forensic Service for identification, Wednesday.

As to the reason for the concealment, the ministry quoted Kim as saying that he didn’t want to bother the families, with the funerals scheduled. More details are expected as the investigation is ongoing.

The families expressed outrage, Thursday. “We need a full explanation about how it happened and want the government to hold the officials accountable,” they said outside the National Assembly.

It also rattled the Assembly.

Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, which was criticized harshly by the families for not supporting the Sewol’s salvage, called the concealment a crime and it “deserves the fall of the Moon Jae-in government.”

The ferry sank in waters off Korea’s southwestern coast of Jindo on April 16, 2014, killing 304, out of 476 passengers.

The ferry remained submerged until March this year, almost three years after the incident happened. The continued search after the salvage identified four additional missing passengers.

The incident became an emblem of the incompetence of the Park government and contributed to the removal of the former president from power in March.