S. Korean appeals court convicts captain of doomed ferry of homicide

A South Korean appeals court on Tuesday found the captain of the Sewol ferry that sank a year ago guilty of homicide and increased his sentence to life in prison. The ruling in the southern city of Gwangju overturned a lower court decision that 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 304 people who died in the disaster were high school students on an organized 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 realizing 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 willful 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.