South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won announced his resignation
today over the government response to the ferry disaster, in which it
was first announced that everyone had been rescued, focusing attention
on poor regulatory controls.
The Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip south from the port of Incheon to the traditional holiday island of Jeju on April 16.
More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers on a field
trip from the Danwon High School on the outskirts of Seoul, have died or
are missing and presumed dead.
The children on board the Sewol were told to stay put in their cabins,
where they waited for further orders. The confirmed death toll today was
187.
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy and one of its leading
manufacturing and export powerhouses, has developed into one of the
world's most technically advanced countries, but faces criticism that
regulatory controls have not kept pace.
As part of the investigation, prosecutors raided two shipping safety
watchdogs and a coastguard office. They have also raided two vessel
service centres, which act as maritime traffic control.
Chung's resignation has to be approved by President Park Geun-hye, who has the most power in government.
- "Keeping my post too great a burden on the administration," a sombre Chung said in a brief announcement. "... On behalf of the government, I apologise for many problems from the prevention of the accident to the early handling of the disaster.
- "There are too many irregularities and malpractices in parts of society that have been with us too long and I hope those are corrected so that accidents like this will not happen again."
Chung was booed and someone threw a water bottle at him when he visited
grieving parents the day after the disaster. President Park was also
booed by some relatives when she visited a gym where families of the
missing were staying.
Tempers have frayed over the slow pace of the recovery and frequent changes in information provided by the government.
Source: Reuters
Post a Comment