'Families of Sewol victims monitored by police'

By Lee Hyo-sik

Police are being criticized for allegedly conducting illegal surveillance of family members of victims of the Sewol tragedy.

The families claim plain-clothes officers have been monitoring them.

On Monday, a group of bereaved family members in Ansan headed to Jindo Island, South Jeolla Province, to discuss their collective stance with those who still remain there, following President Park’s address. They stopped at a highway service area on the way and spotted two people they suspected to be plain-clothes officers from a police station in Ansan.

The family members quizzed the two about why they were following them, but the officers denied that they were police officers, according to the families. Upon returning to Ansan later in the day, the families protested what they called the illicit monitoring by law enforcement authorities, and demanded the police offer an apology.

The head of the police agency supervising the officers rushed to apologize for the incident.

Choi Dong-hae, Commissioner of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, visited a group memorial altar set up in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, at 00:08 a.m. Tuesday to apologize to family members of the Sewol victims. Most passengers onboard the ferry who died or are missing on April 16 were high school sophomores from Ansan.

``I sincerely apologize for plain-clothes officers’ monitoring of some bereaved family members without prior consent,’’ the commissioner said. ``It is wrong of the officers to try to conceal their identities when confronted by the families of the Sewol victims. I will strictly reprimand them and retrain them thoroughly not to engage in controversial acts again.’’

However, Choi denied the allegations that the officers were on a surveillance mission, arguing that they followed the bereaved family members to protect them and offer help.