Sewol captain sentenced to 36 years

Lee Joon-seok, second from right, captain of the sunken ferry Sewol, awaits sentencing at Gwangju District Court, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Kim Rahn

A district court sentenced Sewol ferry Captain Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison, Tuesday, after finding him guilty of negligent manslaughter that resulted in the deaths of 295 people on board his ship, with nine people still missing.

However, the Gwangju District Court did not find him guilty of murder, the charge brought against him by the prosecution.

The court found the ferry’s chief engineer, surnamed Park, guilty of murder for failing to help two cooks on the vessel he saw were seriously hurt. The two people were later found dead. He was given a 30-year prison term.

Prosecutors had sought murder charges for Lee, Park and other two senior crewmembers ― the first and second mates ― demanding the death penalty for Lee and life imprisonment for the other three.

Lee and his crewmen were accused of abandoning the ferry without attempting to evacuate passengers when the vessel started sinking in seas off Jin Island, South Jeolla Province, on April 16.

“Lee ordered the second mate to evacuate passengers from the vessel when the Korea Coast Guard’s patrol ship was about to arrive,” the court said in its ruling.

“We see that Lee knew that negligence would lead to the deaths of the people still on board. But from the evidence submitted by the prosecution, we don’t recognize that he acted on this deliberately.”

During the trial, some crewmen claimed that Lee had ordered an evacuation, while others said he did not. Prosecutors claimed Lee and the three senior crewmen were guilty of willful negligence, saying they thought the passengers’ deaths would be inevitable and only tried to save their own lives.

The first and second mates received 20 and 15 years in jail, respectively, for their negligence.

Another 11 low-ranking crewmembers received prison terms ranging from 5-20 years on the same charges.

After the court’s verdict, bereaved family members said the punishments handed out were too lenient.