SEOUL, South Korea — The Supreme Court of South Korea on Thursday upheld the life sentence of the captain of a ferry that capsized in 2014, killing more than 300 people, most of them teenagers trapped inside the ship as the crew fled.
In a ruling that completed a yearlong trial of 15 crew members of the ferry, the Sewol, the country’s highest court supported the murder conviction against the captain, Lee Jun-seok. Fourteen lower-ranking crew members had received sentences of 1 1/2 to 12 years in prison on lesser criminal charges that stemmed from their shirking of a duty to help passengers.
In April, an appeals court convicted Lee, 70, of committing “murder through willful negligence” after he and other crew members abandoned the ship last year, fleeing onto the first coast guard ships arriving at the scene without instructing passengers to evacuate.
“If there had been a timely order to evacuate the passengers, a considerable number of victims would have escaped and lived,” the Supreme Court said in its unanimous ruling Thursday.
The 6,825-ton ferry was carrying twice the legal limit of cargo when it suddenly tilted as it was turning in treacherous waters off the southwestern tip of South Korea in April 2014. An investigation by prosecutors showed that the ship had accommodated the excess cargo by dumping much of the ballast water, sacrificing a crucial ability to balance the ship.
Most of the 304 dead were found huddled inside the ferry. Survivors and investigators have said that the ship’s intercom repeatedly told passengers, most of them high school students on a field trip, to stay put, leaving them waiting for help that never came.
In the past, murder through willful negligence has been a difficult charge to prove in South Korea. Until this case, no crew member had ever been convicted of it in connection with a ship disaster.
A lower court cleared Lee of that charge last November, saying that prosecutors had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he failed to issue an evacuation order. It sentenced him to 36 years in prison on lesser charges.
But in April, an appeals court ruled that enough evidence showed Lee’s failure to issue such an order and take additional steps required of a captain to help passengers in danger. Lee was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge, the verdict that the Supreme Court upheld Thursday.
“It is fair to say that the captain knowingly and totally abandoned his role when he left the ship fully aware that passengers would drown,” the Supreme Court said. Throughout his hearings, Lee tearfully apologized for his poor seamanship and said he did not object to a long prison term. But he has resisted the murder charge, saying that he never had a murderous intention.
Investigators have also attributed the sinking, among South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters, to the ferry company, which had dismissed complaints about routine overloading of the ship; regulators who colluded with the company and failed to stop the problem and other safety loopholes; and the coast guard, which has been accused of bungling the early rescue effort. Dozens of safety inspectors and shipping company and coast guard officials have been jailed or convicted on criminal charges.