The government expressed regret Wednesday over the recent deaths of 25 Chinese stowaways aboard a Korean-owned vessel used for smuggling humans.
The government pledged to get to the bottom of the incident and to draw up measures to prevent a repetition.
Park Joon-young, head of the Government Information Agency said this incident was an inhumane crime that led to an unprecedented large number of deaths. He delivered condolences to the bereaved families.
Park said that the government will closely cooperate with the Chinese government to deal with the incident.
Park said the government will reinforce efforts to root out human smuggling rings and improve the rights of foreign nationals working here.