Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Breaking Top court upholds life sentence for Sewol captain
By Kim Bo-eun
Korea’s top court has confirmed the life sentence imposed on the Sewol ferry’s captain.
The ferry sank in April last year killing more than 300 people, most of them high school students on an excursion.
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the lower court’s life imprisonment verdict, Thursday.
The ruling was based evidence that Lee Jun-seok, 70, did not carry out measures to save the passengers, such as ordering them to evacuate. The court said he had committed homicide by “willful negligence.”
"An evacuation order that came at the right time would have enabled a considerable number of victims to escape and survive," the court said.
“Despite foreseeing that the passengers could only drown, abandoning them and escaping by himself should be seen as a conscious and complete abandonment of his role as the captain.”