Probe continues into cover-up of Sewol remains findings

By Kim Bo-eun

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ audit and inspection division continued questioning individuals involved in covering up the findings of remains of unaccounted for passengers of the sunken ferry Sewol, Friday.

A day earlier, the division questioned five officials, including those in charge of the search site at Mokpo New Port, who were found to be key figures in efforts to conceal the findings.

A bone fragment believed to belong to one of the five unaccounted for passengers was found on Nov. 17, but the senior officials did not report the findings to their superiors.

The officials reportedly testified it was because they presumed the bone fragment belonged to another passenger _ a female student of Danwon High School _ whose remains were found earlier, and whose funeral was held in September.

They said notifying the family members of the unaccounted for passengers would cause a setback for funeral ceremonies which were scheduled to take place the next day.

They also said they did not wish to engage the family members in a distressing two-week wait for the results of DNA tests to be revealed.

The officials are suspected to have decided not to report the findings to prevent calls for further searches from the family members of unaccounted for passengers.

The search inside the ferry had been coming to an end.

The findings were reported to Minister Kim Young-choon Monday, after which he reprimanded the officials and ordered immediate measures to be taken. However, none were taken until the next day.

On Tuesday afternoon, the officials notified the bereaved family members and the ferry investigation committee.

Kim gave a report on the matter to the National Assembly’s committee on oceans and fisheries, Friday.