S.Korea Ferry Boss's Driver Turns Self In
The driver of a South Korean businessman wanted over the sinking of a ferry that killed 304 people turned himself in on Tuesday, potentially unlocking the mystery of the businessman's final days after the country's worst maritime disaster in 44 years. Prosecutors in the port city of Incheon said the driver, Yang Hoe-jung, turned himself in at their office, which is leading the investigation into the role of businessman Yoo Byung-un in the sinking of the ferry Sewol. Yoo's body was found by a farmer in an orchard on June 12. The structurally defective and heavily overloaded ferry capsized and sank on a routine journey on April 16, killing 304 people, 250 of them teenagers from the same school on a class field trip. Twelve of their teachers were also killed.
Sewol Crew Gets Little in Legal Resources
MOKPO, South Korea, May 20 (Reuters) - South Korea's legal system appears to be failing 15 surviving crew of a ferry that sank last month, killing hundreds of children, with their being tried and convicted by an angry public before the case has even come to court. Lawyers are agonising over how they can mount a convincing defence of the crew, who jumped ship as the children waited in their cabins, dressed in life jackets, obediently following orders before a disaster that put the whole country in mourning. The absence of determined defence may mean that the crew's side of the story - whether, for instance, they were adequately trained or whether they were given strict orders to abandon ship - may never be heard in court.
