Relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster said on Tuesday they will fight for justice after a South Korean court handed a 36-year sentence to the captain of the sunken ferry.

Gwangju District Court acquitted Captain Lee Joon-seok of a homicide charge because it was difficult to believe that he knew his actions would cause such a huge number of deaths, according to a court statement.

It said that Lee had issued an evacuation order.

The court did convict him however of being professionally negligent and abandoning his passengers during the disaster in April that killed more than 300 people.

Family members criticised the verdict for being too lenient, telling the media outside the court they would tighten their resolve until "we reveal the truth at the Court of Appeal through a Special Investigative Committee."

Whilst Ko Young-hee, the mother of student victim Choi Jin-hyuk said a Sewol Ferry Investigation Committee would now be formed that will collect evidence to send to the Court of Appeal.

"We will do anything to make the crew members....pay for their crimes accordingly" she added.

Prosecutors and the crew members have one week to appeal, according to the court.

The chief engineer got 30 years, and 13 other crew members were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, Yonhap news agency and other South Korean media reported, citing the court.

Lee has apologised for abandoning the passengers, but said he didn't know his action would lead to so many deaths.

The widely vilified Lee could have received a death sentence for the homicide charges.

A total of 476 people were aboard the ship and only 172 of them were rescued.

AP TELEVISION

Gwangju - 11 November 2014

1. News conference by family members of Danwon High School student victims from the Sewol Ferry disaster

2. Close of family members

3. Close of a mother of one student victim

4. Father of one student victim talking during the conference

5. SOUNDBITE (Korean): Park Jong-dae, father of Danwon High School student victim Park Soo-hyun:

"I kind of expected this situation (no death-penalty or life-sentence given) could occur. However, it is not even the life-sentence, but 36 years in jail. I cannot stop help myself being terrified by the fact that the rest of the crew members, as this (student victim's) mother has already said, received sentences as low as five-years in jail. I want to say 'sorry' to the children, and I want to promise them that we will tighten our resolve until we reveal the truth at the Court of Appeal through a Special Investigative Committee."

6. Journalists at news conference

7. Wide of news conference

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean): Ko Young-hee, Mother of Danwon High School student victim Choi Jin-hyuk:

"All my daily life and future has been crushed forever since the 16th of April. All mothers' lives have disappeared in such a way. Just five-years in jail to pay for what they did? Now, the Sewol Ferry Investigation Committee will be formed. We will collect every bit of evidence we have and send it to the Court of Appeal. We will do anything to make the crew members, who abandoned our children, escaped, ran away, and thought of only their lives, pay for their crimes accordingly."

9. Close of two female family members

10. Ko talking at news conference

11. Journalists at news conference

12. End of news conference

South Korean prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that sank earlier this year, killing more than 300 people.

They blamed his negligence and failure to rescue passengers in need for the massive loss of life, a court official and news reports said.

Prosecutors also requested life sentences for three other key crew members during a trial at the Gwangju District Court in southern South Korea, a court official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media about the sentence requests.

He said prosecutors asked for sentences of up to 30 years for 11 other crew members.

Some relatives of the victims who were present in court on Monday were not happy with the proceedings so far, however.

"We expect at least four crew members to receive death penalties including Kang Won-sik (the first mate) and the chief engineer. However, this is totally nonsense," said Kim Ki-woong, whose son was killed in the disaster.

Kim added that the truth about the disaster was not made clear and that "crew members are just trying to make excuses."

The 15 crew members tasked with the ship's navigation were among the first people rescued from the ship when it began badly listing, a source of the fierce public anger directed at them.

Most of those who died in the disaster were students from a single high school who were en route from Incheon, west of Seoul, to the resort island of Jeju on April 16.

Captain Lee Joon-seok and the three key crew members - a first mate, a second mate and the chief engineer - were indicted in May on homicide charges.

Eleven other crew members were indicted on less serious charges.

Court officials have said the court will issue verdicts on the 15 crew members in November.

The death penalty is the maximum legal sentence in South Korea, but the country has a de facto moratorium on capital punishment and has not executed anyone since December 1997.

South Korean courts, however, still occasionally issue death sentences.

The sinking, one of South Korea's deadliest disasters in decades, caused nationwide grief and fury, with authorities blaming overloading of cargo, improper storage, untimely rescue efforts and other negligence for the incident.

AP TELEVISION

Gwangju - 27 October 2014

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Family members of student victims from the Sewol ferry disaster leaving Gwangju District Court

2. Various of family members getting on to bus

3. Family members sitting in bus

4. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Kim Ki-woong, Victim's father:

"We expect at least four crew members to receive death penalties including Kang Won-sik (the first mate) and the chief engineer. However, this is totally nonsense. The truth of (the disaster) is not even revealed; it (the last trial) was just a joke."

(Reporter question: are you saying the level of the sentence from the prosecutors is too low?"

"It is not only too low, but the truth is also not completely revealed. Crew members are just trying to make excuses."

5. Sign reading (Korean) " Bus for the Sewol ferry victims' families"

6. Family members on bus

7. Family members getting on to bus

8. Door on bus closes

9. Various of bus driving off

SHOTLIST:

Protest by families of Sewol ferry victims

2054482

AP TELEVISION

Seoul - 11 April 2015

1. Wide of Sewol ferry victims' families and other activists marching in demonstration

2. Demonstrators clashing with police

Massive candlelit image in honour of Sewol victims

2055279

AP TELEVISION

Seoul - 17 Apr 2015

++NIGHT SHOTS++

3. People lighting up candles outside Seoul City Hall in hopes of setting a new Guinness record for creating the largest candlelight image

4. Candles

Sewol captain gets life sentence

2056722

POOL

Gwangju - 28 April 2015

5. Crew members and the captain, Lee Joon-seok (last one) going down stairs to get to the court room

AP TELEVISION

Gwangju - 28 April 2015

6. Judge panel seated in the court room

7. Captain and crew members seated

STORYLINE:

Sewol ferry victims' families and other activists held a rally on April 11th 2015 in Seoul to urge the government to expedite the salvage of the sunken vessel.

Police estimated that around 2,500 took part in the rally, which included a march towards the South Korean Presidential Office.

There were clashes between some activists and police officers, who were blocking the protesters' access.

The South Korean government said on Friday that its feasibility study showed that salvaging the ferry is possible - but also said that it has not decided whether to do so.

The victim's families oppose the government's enforcement ordinance of a special law relating to the disaster, which they say is holding back a full, independent investigation into what happened.

The Sewol - carrying 476 people, mostly secondary school students from Danwon High School - sank on April 16th 2014.

A total of 295 bodies have been recovered. Nine others remain missing.

Officials have blamed negligence by crew members, excessive cargo and improper storage for the sinking, along with slow rescue efforts.

A court sentenced 15 crew members last year to between five and 36 years in prison.

***

Thousands of South Koreans gathered to try to set a new record for creating the largest candlelight image to commemorate the victims of the sunken ferry Sewol on April 17th.

The attempt came a day after the first anniversary of the incident, which killed over 300 people.

The initial target was to gather 4,160 people but the number eventually reached 4,475.

They stood in the shape of the sunken ferry, and demanded the South Korean government reveal the truth behind the incident, and salvage the sunken ferry to find nine passengers, who are still missing.

Jeon Myung-sun, the father of Jeon Chan-ho, one of the Danwon High School students who died in the incident, resolved to keep urging the South Korean government to punish the people responsible for the disaster.

Other participants also called on the government to do more.

The Sewol ferry sank on April 2014 off the southwestern coast of South Korea.

It was en route to Jeju Island, carrying 476 passengers.

A total of 304 people died, including 250 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, who were on their way to their first field trip as high school students.

***

A South Korean appellate court on April 28th handed down a sentence of life in prison to the captain of a ferry that sank in 2014, killing more than 300 people.

The sentencing is harsher than a November verdict by a district court that sentenced Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers in need.

Lee's sentence was increased because the Gwangju High Court convicted him on homicide charges, according to court spokesman.

In the November ruling, Lee was acquitted of homicide.

The appellate court sentenced 14 other navigation crew members to 18 months to 12 years in prison.

In November they had received sentences of five to 30 years in prison.

Jeon said both prosecutors and the crew members have one week to appeal the verdicts.

Most of the victims were teenagers travelling to a southern island for a school trip.

A total of 295 bodies have been retrieved but nine others are missing.

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Gwangju - 28 April 2015

1. News conference by the representatives of Sewol ferry victims' families in front of the Gwangju High Court

2. Sign reading (Korean) "There are still people inside the Sewol Ferry. Salvage the ferry immediately. Zero rescued, is this a nation?"

3. Father of Sewol ferry victim Jeon Chan-ho and representative of Sewol ferry victims' families Jeon Myung-sun speaking before the media

4. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Jeon Myung-sun, father of Sewol ferry victim Jeon Chan-ho and representative of Sewol ferry victims' families

"Hearing the result of this sentencing trial, they sentenced captain Lee Joon-seok 36 years in prison during the first trial, haven't they? Who will eventually die when he gets old. However, if he was convicted on homicide charges, he should have received death penalty. Imprisonment for life? They want to give life sentence to a person so that he can peacefully die when he is old?"

5. Close of a sign reading (Korean) "Ferry Sewol Disaster. Prosecutors must thoroughly investigate and the court should fairly decide."

6. Wide of Jeon talking in front of the court

7. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Jeon Myung-sun, father of Sewol ferry victim Jeon Chan-ho and representative of Sewol ferry victims' families

"It doesn't end here. We will not accept this court's decision, and we will take this to the Supreme Court."

8. Cho Sun-ae, mother of Sewol ferry victim Kang Hyuk, talking in front of the court

9. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Cho Sun-ae, 47, Mother of Ferry Sewol victim Kang Hyuk

"The sentencing have been reduced by one and a half and one third and it has become an occasion to lessen the punishment of the crew. I am deeply saddened. Today's result has brought a big disappointment to us families."

10. Close of signs, reading in Korean "Punish those who are responsible for the ferry Sewol disaster," and "The court must unveil the truth, which the government is trying to hide."

11. News conference

12. Court spokesman Jeon Ilho taking his seat

13. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Jeon Ilho, Gwangju High Court Public Relations Officer:

"The Appeal Court considered the fact that an announcement was made urging the passengers to stay put, even though the captain and crew members were escaping and the measures regarding the order to abandon ship were not taken. Based on these facts, the court found that the crew members did not give the order to abandon the ship and acknowledged that Captain Lee Jun-seok was guilty of wilful negligence."

14. Jeon briefing the media

15. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Jeon Ilho, Gwangju High Court Public Relations Officer:

"While punishing Captain Lee Jun-seok for not living up to his important responsibility as the captain, the crew members, who follow the captain's orders, got their sentences reduced. It is based on the recently set standards for derelict crimes, (on the) measures they took to rescue the passengers, the reason they came on board in the first place and their medical conditions. As a result, Captain Lee Jun-seok gets the life sentence and the rest of the crew got the sentences ranging from one and a half to 12 years."

16. Close of Jeon talking

17. Jeon talking to the media

STORYLINE

The South Korean ferry captain responsible for last year's disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly school children, was given an increased sentence of life in prison on Tuesday by an appellate court that convicted him of homicide.

A district court in November had sentenced Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers in need but acquitted him of homicide in the Sewol ferry disaster.

Victims' relatives criticised both verdicts, saying it was too lenient.

"He should have received death penalty. Imprisonment for life? They want to give life sentence to a person so that he can peacefully die when he is old?" Jeon Myung-sun, father of Sewol ferry victim Jeon Chan-ho told the protesting families of the victims who had staged a demonstration outside Gwangju High Court.

Lee's sentence was increased because the Gwangju High Court additionally convicted him on the homicide charges while upholding most of other charges that led to his November conviction.

Last week, South Korea formally announced it would salvage the ship from the ocean floor off the country's southwest coast.

Relatives of the victims hope that might locate the missing, including four students, and help reveal more details about the sinking.

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