Go to contents

Park vows to punish those responsible in ferry disaster, irrespective of ranks

Park vows to punish those responsible in ferry disaster, irrespective of ranks

Posted April. 22, 2014 01:16,   

한국어

President Park Geun-hye said on Monday, “I will force out without fail civil servants who are only wary of their job security and seek to keep their posts,” adding, “By thoroughly identifying (the causes of the Sewol’s sinking) in various phases, the government will sternly hold those responsible for negligence, irregularities and bad practices.”

While presiding over senior presidential secretaries’ meeting on the day, Park said, “If all people distrust civil servants, there is no reason for the civil servant to remain in the post.” She went on to say, “People who provided cause for the accident by disregarding manuals and people who violated their own obligations or overlooked illegal acts in the process of the ship’s sinking, should be held accountable under civil and criminal codes, irrespective of their rankings.”

On the captain and some crewmembers who escaped by abandoning passengers trapped in the ill-fated ferry, Park made condemnation, saying, “Their acts are absolutely unacceptable and can never be forgivable, and are akin to murder.”

The president also criticized that “The government’s crisis response system and early response should be reflected upon as well.” She said, “Currently, there is the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, but in order to ensure cooperation and coordinated response between officials at the disaster site and the government ministries, we need a more powerful control tower to cope with disasters,” instructing her administration to “examine related measures at the earliest date possible.”