The final conclusion of the late Sewol issue in 6 years and 9 months… “There was no external pressure”

April 16, 2014. The Sewol ferry, carrying 476 passengers, including 325 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, on a school trip, sank off the coast of Jindo-gun, Jeollanam-do. It was a massive disaster in which the precious lives of 304 people (250 students) were sacrificed. Only four investigations have been conducted so far. Here, the Board of Audit and Inspection, the National Assembly, and the Special Investigation Committee for the 4·16 Sewol ferry disaster (Special Assistance Committee) conducted a fact-finding activity to punish the person in charge, but the suspicion of the public remained. Accordingly, in November 2019, the’Sewol Special Investigation Group (Director Kwan-hyuk Lim)’ was formed under the direct control of the Prosecutor General.

The special team announced the results of the final investigation on the 19th after 6 years and 9 months of the incident and 1 year and 2 months from the launch of the special group.

The targets of the special group’s investigation were 17 cases, including complaints and accusations of survivors, such as the 4/16 Year Old Citizens’ Council, and the case of a special investigation committee for social disasters. Largely ▶Suspicious of manipulating ship automatic identification system (AIS) track data related to the sinking of the Sewol ferry ▶Suspiciousness of responsibility for rescue of the coastal waters ▶Suspicion of interfering with investigations and inspections by the Blue House and the Ministry of Justice, etc. Suspicion of manipulating evidence such as manipulation ▶ Suspicion of inspections of survivors by the Armed Forces Military Command and the National Intelligence Service.

The Special Forces announced that it would dismiss the remaining 15 allegations, excluding the responsibility for the rescue of the Coast Guard command and obstruction of the activities of the Special Control Committee, prosecuted earlier this day, or hand over to a special prosecutor who will be appointed under the Sewol Special Prosecutors’ Act.

The special team first dealt with no charges against all of the people involved in the Park Geun-hye administration’s investigation of the Sewol ferry and the allegations of external pressure. At that time, Justice Minister Hwang Gyo-an and Civil Service Secretary Woo Byung-woo were suspicious of instructing Gwangju District Prosecutors who were investigating the 123 suits of the Coast Guard to exclude charges of business manslaughter (upper) from the crimes claiming an arrest warrant. He was accused of being charged.

Regarding this, the special group said, “There was room for contention within the Ministry of Justice, but it is difficult to determine whether there was an order from the Ministry of Justice by stating that the prosecution officials did not remember whether they were instructed to exclude the charges of business negligence.” Ultimately, considering the fact that the Ministry of Justice did not object to the prosecution’s conclusion that it would apply the charges of business negligence (high), it is difficult to say that it falls under ex officio abuse.”

Regarding the suspicion of external pressure from the auditor of the Blue House, where former president Kim Ki-chun, etc. was involved, “(in the audit of the auditor), the fact that it was confirmed that it was not included in the audit result because no illegality or injustice was found. “There is no evidence to admit that you put pressure to prevent you from doing it.”

The Special Forces determined that there were no charges of abuse of authority or obstruction of work even against related persons such as former President Park Geun-hye, who is suspected of illegal inspections of the families of the Sewol ferry by intelligence agencies such as the security guard and the National Intelligence Service. The special team said that it was true that former President Park and others at the time received a report from the Kimu Command that included some of the trends of the families of the Sewol ferry. However, as a result of analyzing the internal data of the security officer and the seized material of the Presidential Archives, the fact that the Blue House ordered the inspection of the family of the Sewol ferry was not confirmed, and it was judged that it was difficult to admit the conspiracy relationship with the Blue House. In particular, he said that it was difficult to say that it interfered with the specific rights of the bereaved families because the means such as following, wiretapping, wiretapping, and hacking were not used.

Regarding the NIS’ suspicion of inspections, he admitted the fact that Nam Jae-joon and Lee Byung-ki, former chief of the National Intelligence Service, identified the trends of the families of the Sewol ferry and prepared a related report. However, the act of collecting information disclosed to the media through a press conference was difficult to see as an ex officio abuse, and it was also reported that the means such as follow-up, wiretapping, interception, and hacking were not used, and all involved were charged with nothing.

The suspicion that an NIS employee cheated on his identity and contacted Captain Lee Jun-seok, the captain of the Sewol ferry, was also found to have been a media reporter and a sea police employee, not an NIS employee.

Broadcaster Kim Eo-jun claimed that someone intentionally sank the Sewol ferry, and that the AIS, which records the ship’s route, was manipulated. On April 15, 2019, the movie’Ghost Ship’ was also made with this theme.

The special group said that the suspicion of manipulation of AIS track data was not true. The special group compared and analyzed the track and the original AIS text on the original AIS submitted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the AIS of private merchant ships, and the data of overseas AIS collectors. As a result, it was found that the track announced by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in the early stage of the Sewol ferry disaster and the track confirmed at 23 AIS base stations coincide. The special group explained, “It is virtually impossible to manipulate AIS from various sources, including the private sector, to manipulate wake data.”

On the day of the disaster, the special team could not find any suspicion regarding the suspicion that the coast guard transferred the drowned student Im Mo-gun to a ship, not a helicopter, to abandon the rescue. The special team stated, “The emergency rescuer who performed CPR at the time was’thinking that he had already died due to the occurrence of a half (purple spots appearing after death)’ on the whole body,” and said, “Even though the commander of the Coast Guard recognized that the military was alive, it was not a helicopter. There is no evidence to see that it was transported to,” he explained.

The special team also investigated the suspicion of the operation of the Sewol ferry CCTV recording device, but decided to hand over the record to a special prosecution to be launched in the future.

After the announcement of the results of the investigation, Director Lim Kwan-hyuk said that during the question-and-answer process, the investigation was quite burdensome. Director Lim said, “It was difficult to see the last video or message left by the children,” he said. “When viewed from outside the bereaved family, it is not the result of the investigation as expected, but I may be disappointed, but I could not make a case that did not work as a lawyer. According to the principle, I did all the investigations I could do,” he said.

Reporter Kang Kwangwoo [email protected]