Repercussions and Accountability
It soon became clear that the tragedy was compounded by a failure of leadership. Park Geun-hye, the South Korean president at that time, did not appear in public for about seven hours after the ship’s sinking was reported. Park stayed in her bedroom all that time without moving to her office, although she was briefed by the head of the National Security Office on the accident in the morning, according to news reports. Meanwhile, the head of the control tower, which needs to deal with disasters quickly, did not faithfully take part in protecting the lives and safety of the people. During that time, the Coast Guard and the government’s response was unacceptably insufficient.
Almost eight years have passed since then. Some of those directly involved in the disaster, including the captain, were sentenced to prison, but the bereaved families say they have not yet fully uncovered the cause and truth of the disaster. A particular point of contention is that no one in charge of either the Coast Guard or the control tower was held accountable for the failed disaster response. South Korea's government estimated salvaging the ship would cost $110m (£74m) and previously refused to commit. A year after the disaster, President Park Guen-hye, speaking at a port in Jindo, said she would take "the necessary steps to salvage the ship at the earliest possible date". However, it took about three years for the government to decide how best to pull the ship out of the water. The ship was not raised until March 23 2017, several years after the events. Also, Korean officials had promised to finally take on a national culture that often puts profit over people. The promises came too late for the overloaded South Korean ferry, too late for the 250 students who drowned when it capsized on a school trip to a resort island.The government itself has declined to require changes at ports that experts say would dramatically increase safety by making it easier to catch cargo cheaters. Officials rejected the fixes as too costly. One maritime safety expert put it bluntly: “They haven’t learned the lessons of the Sewol disaster after all the sadness and national trauma.”