Anchor: A Seoul court has ordered the state to compensate families of victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking in its first recognition of the state's liability of the case. While ordering the defendants to provide 200 million won to each victim, the court blamed the government's failure to ensure proper safety checks of the vessel and its ineffective rescue attempts.
Kim Bum-soo has more.
Report: The Seoul Central District Court has recognized the government's responsibility over the 2014 deadly Sewol ferry disaster.
The lower court on Thursday ruled on the damage suit brought by some 350 bereaved family members against the operator of the sunken ferry and the government.
In the ruling that came more than four years after the maritime tragedy that claimed the lives of over 300 people, the court ordered the defendants to provide 200 million won, or around 177-thousand U.S. dollars, to each victim.
The ruling also entitled the parents of the high school students who died during the tragedy to 40 million won in reparations.
The ruling said the state's negligence in safety maintenance of the vessel is a cause of the deadly maritime accident and its failed initial rescue operations worsened the damage.
It singled out the Coast Guard patrol boat 123 for not evacuating passengers inside the slowly capsizing Sewol and blamed the ferry's operator for overloading cargo and not properly tying automobiles placed inside the vessel that lost balance.
In 2015, families of 118 victims of the sinking rejected the government's offer of financial compensation and other consolation measures, and resorted to legal action against the state and the Sewol’s operator Cheonghaejin Marine Company, seeking about one billion won for each victim.
The decision marks the first time that a court has upheld the victims' call for state liability in the accident.
Despite the acknowledgement of the state's liability, the plaintiffs said in a subsequent news conference that they wanted to launch an appeal, demanding a court ruling more explicit in stating those who were wrong and to what extent.
The ferry capsized off the southwestern coast of Korea in April 2014 with hundreds of students on a school trip to Jeju Island trapped inside. The government retrieved nearly 300 bodies of the victims but a few are still missing.
In March of last year, the government raised the six-thousand-800 ton ferry from the sea bed three years after it sank.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.