S. Korea to pay $ 380K to ferry victims’ kin

Public demands by victims’ families for the government to allow an independent investigation into the disaster have intensified in the weeks leading up to the anniversary

South Korea said it would pay about $ 380,000 in compensation for each of the 250 students who died in the 2014 ferry disaster, although some victims’ families accused the Government of trying to divert attention from their demands for an independent probe.

The Sewol sank on April 16 while making a turn on a routine voyage to the holiday island of Jeju, leaving 304 people dead or missing and creating a crisis for the Government of President Park Geun- hye over its handling of the disaster.

Public demands by victims’ families for the government to allow an independent investigation into the disaster have intensified in the weeks leading up to the anniversary. Victims’ families also want the ship to be raised, but the Government has yet to decide on a plan for doing so.

“The families of the deceased will not take 4.2 trillion won let alone 420 million won if the probe for the real truth and the raising of the ship are not conducted properly,” Yoo Kyung- keun, who heads the victims’ families association, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

They say a Government investigation in 2014 was inadequate, and that a joint Government- private commission set up for a new probe into the sinking does not have enough representation from the families. More than twothirds of the 476 passengers aboard the Sewol were students on a school trip. Many of them died trapped in the vessel following orders by the crew to stay in their cabins as it capsized and sank.

On Wednesday, the government announced compensation it said was in line with that of past disasters in the country, including a 2003 subway fire started by an arsonist in Daegu that killed 192 people.

The families of 11 teachers who died will receive on average 763.9 million won ($ 692,930), the amount higher to account for lost income, the ministry of oceans and fisheries ministry said. Families of other passengers will receive between 150 million won to 600 million won depending on age and income, it said.

The ferry’s chief engineer was convicted of homicide and jailed for 30 years.