A Seoul court has ordered the state of South Korea and the shipping firm ‘Cheonghaejin Marine’ to compensate the families of victims from the Sewol ferry sinking that killed over 300 passengers, back in 2014, finding they are responsible for their suffering.
In particular, the Seoul Central District Court awarded Thursday 200 million won (US$177,000) in compensation for each deceased passenger and 40 million won to parents of students who lost their lives in the tragedy, according to official data provided by Yonhap news agency. The court also awarded compensation of 5-20 million won for siblings and grandparents of the deceased.
Sewol ferry was carrying 476 people when it went down, off South Korea’s southwestern coast near Jindo Island, in April 2014, claiming lives of 304 people. 250 of the confirmed dead were students on a school excursion.
Thursday’s court ruling was the first one to respond to the victims’ call for state liability in the country’s worst maritime disaster.
This came following a lawsuit in September 2015 from 354 bereaved family members of 118 victims against the state, asking the court to determine “state liability for the cause, lax handling and result” of the accident. They sought a combined 107 billion won payout, or about 1 billion won for each victim.
The Sewol sinking erupted a public outrage due to serious deficiencies in the government’s response system for the rescue and post-salvage operations. Most importantly, the unaccounted whereabouts of then-President Park Geun-hye at the critical time of the sinking later became one of the triggers that led to her ouster in 2017, Yonhap reports.
The court on Thursday acknowledged that Cheonghaejin Marine is also liable for the accident, citing the overloading of freight and the crew who left the passengers behind and escaped.
A government-led committee has offered 470 million won to the families of the Danwon High School student victims for their losses and suffering. The plaintiffs in Thursday’s suit refused the compensation, insisting they want a court decision on state liability.
In a press conference outside the courthouse Thursday, the victims’ families as represented by Yoo Kyung-geun, expressed disappointment, noting they hope to hear a more favorable judgment in the appeal.
We are not pleased that the court has acknowledged the liability. We take it as a matter of course. We wanted the court to explicitly state what this country had done wrong and to what extent a company should be responsible for their actions, not whether or not they were guilty.
