Nautilus: Sewol Tragedy Is Not One Man’s Fault

An international maritime union Nautilus International has criticised a South Korean appeals court’s decision to sentence the captain of the ferry Sewol to life imprisonment after ruling that he was guilty of homicide.

The high court rejected an appeal by Lee Joon-seok, who was in command of the ferry when it sank in April 2014 with the loss of more than 300 lives, mostly children.

The master had been found guilty in November of gross negligence and sentenced to 36 years, after prosecutors had initially sought the death penalty.

The appeals court decided to reduce the sentence imposed on the Sewol’s chief engineer from 30 years in jail to 10. It also agreed to cut the prison terms for 14 other crew members to between 18 months and 12 years.

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said the master, who is in his 70s, will die in prison for making a mistake.

”Once again, a captain has been made the scapegoat as a result of political pressure and media misrepresentation,” Dickinson said.

”Pinning the blame on an individual in this way helps to obscure the underlying causes of the accident, including regulatory failure, overloading and design changes. It is the law-makers that determine the actions of owners and set the levels of safety. It should not be masters that suffer for their failure.”

South Korea’s government has recently launched a tender to raise the sunken ferry.

It is expected that once the salvage company is chosen, it will need around three months for preparatory works, suggesting that the salvage operation could start by September at the earliest.

The ministry expects the salvage to last for about one year and cost around USD 139 million.