Military may help search for Sewol ferry victims: ministry

South Korea's military said Monday it may consider supporting the search for the remains of the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking.

There is no official request yet, though, from the maritime ministry, which recently brought the ship to surface and took it to the Mokpo port in the southwestern province of Jeolla, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The 6,825-ton passenger ship sank off the nearby coast in an apparent accident, leaving 304 people, mostly students, dead. The remains of nine people are still missing.

In case of a request for cooperation, the defense ministry will "prudently review" whether to mobilize the agency for the recovery and identification of those killed in action, taking the "significance" of the Sewol issue into account, the ministry's spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters,

A potential problem is the military team specializes in ground-based operations, not the search of remains in ship wrecks, another ministry official said on background. (Yonhap)