Seoul (AsiaNews) - South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty
for Lee Joon-seok, the captain of the Sewol ferry that sank in
April 2014 for reasons that remain unclear. According to the
prosecutor, the man - who is accused of manslaughter - "failed in his duty.
He fled without trying to save the people entrusted to him and has made excuses and lied. He has shown no repentance".
The proceedings against Lee began last
June in Gwangju.
14 other people, all crew members are with him in the dock. The prosecution is seeking life imprisonment
for three high-ranking officers and a sentence of 15 to
30 years in prison for the other 11 accused. The
verdict for the whole group is
expected by mid-November.
There were 476 people
on board the Sewol. Of these, 304 have died.
The vast majority of the passengers
consisted of high school students
on a field trip to Cheju island (South Korea). The
disaster has provoked widespread outrage and upset.
In addition, the fact that the
government has not yet given rise
to an investigation into the causes
that led to the sinking has sparked
a series of controversies that
have plunged the approval ratings of the President
Park Geun-hye.
At the moment public anger is focused on
captain Lee. During the trial some
survivors testified that they received contradictory and dangerous instructions
from the crew. Some Sewol officials ordered
young people to remain in place, even though the
ship had already begun the
descent to the bottom. For his
part, Lee "admitted"
that "some employees could have done more."
The tragedy was widely
reported during the pastoral
visit of Pope Francis to Korea, which took place August 14 to 18
last. The pontiff
stopped several times to speak with groups of family members of the dead students - who
are asking the government for "truth
and justice" - and he wore the symbolic yellow ribbon brooch on his white
skullcap, as a reminder of the young
people who lost their lives at sea
. The Pope also baptized
the father of one of the victims, Mr. Lee Ho-jin,
who has chosen to call himself Francis.