Appeals court convicts S. Korea ferry captain of murder

A South Korean appeals court on Tuesday found the captain of the Sewol ferry that sank a year ago guilty of murdering the 304 people who died in the disaster and upped his sentence to life imprisonment. The ruling in the southern city of Gwangju overturned a lower court decision which had acquitted Lee Jun-Seok of homicide charges in November, convicting him instead of gross negligence and sentencing him to 36 years. Most of the victims were high school students on an organised trip and their families were outraged by the homicide acquittal.

Captain Lee’s irresponsible activity led to the death of young students who perished without realising their dream … and he inflicted an incurable injury on their parents.

South Korea’s Gwangju Appeals Court ruling

During the appeal hearing, prosecutors had asked the court to reconsider the most serious charge of murder through wilful negligence. They also insisted that Lee deserved execution, arguing that he had abandoned his passengers in the clear knowledge that they would die. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it went down off the southwest island of Jindo on April 16 last year. Of the 304 who died, 250 were pupils from the same high school.

Asia-Pacific Sewol