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| Park Geun-hye |
By Kim Jae-heun
The prosecution said Wednesday that ex-President Park Geun-hye's administration fabricated the times she was first informed about the Sewol ferry sinking and orders she gave to take action.
According to prosecutors, Park received the first report on the incident at 10:20 a.m. on April 16, 2014, which was 20 minutes later than stated on the then-administration log.
Park also ordered former head of the National Security Office (NSO) Kim Jang-soo to begin rescue operations at 10:22 a.m., not at 10:15 a.m, the prosecutors found.
The seven minutes difference wasted time that rescuers could have used to save more of the 476 passengers onboard.
The disaster cost 304 lives, mostly high school students on a trip to Jeju Island on the 6,800-ton ferry.
Prosecutors also said that Park's confidante Choi Soon-sil _ who many consider called the shots at Cheong Wa Dae _ was called into the presidential office to discuss measures to deal with the disaster. She also accompanied the former president Park to the central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters, despite holding no official position in the government or right to be involved in state affairs.
The prosecution indicted four of Park's aides for altering the time log of the report on the sinking. Former chief of staff Kim Ki-choon was charged with manipulating and damaging the document and abuse of power. Ex-NSO chiefs Kim Jang-soo and Kim Kwan-jin were indicted for damaging public documents; while presidential secretary Yoon Jeon-choo was charged with perjury.
The two former heads of the NSO are also suspected of having submitted falsified documents to the National Assembly.
The prosecution questioned 63 staff members who worked at the presidential office and other related government agencies at the time.
The very last text message sent by one of the Sewol's passenger was 10:17 a.m., at which point the ship was listing at an angle of 108 degrees and had virtually capsized.
However, while prosecutors suspect that Park may have ordered the changes, they did not find any evidence to prove she was involved in altering the documents, and thus was not legally responsible for this.
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