The Supreme Court has acquitted top Coast Guard officials who stood trial for failing to respond appropriately to rescue all passengers during the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking disaster.

The nine-member bench upheld a lower court acquittal of nine former officials on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death, including former Korea Coast Guard commissioner general Kim Suk-kyoon and deputy commissioner Choi Sang-hwan.

The top court said there is no misunderstanding of the law or omission of judgment by the lower court with regard to a violation of professional duty to take caution.

The former officials were indicted in February 2020 on suspicion of causing 445 casualties by failing to fulfill their initial duty to take cautionary measures during a rescue following the ferry sinking on April 16, 2014.

They were found not guilty in both the first and appellate trials, with the courts saying there was a lack of evidence to prove that they could predict passenger deaths and that they had not taken preventative steps.

In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld a life imprisonment sentence on murder charges for ferry captain Lee Joon-seok, who fled from the sinking vessel without issuing an evacuation order for the passengers or taking rescue measures.