Prosecutors investigating the sinking of South Korean ferry Sewol seized documents and recordings from a coast guard office in Mokpo on Monday.

The seizure is part of investigators' efforts to expand the probe into how the coast guard and other rescuers responded after learning the ferry was sinking.

A senior prosecutor said they would do the same at an emergency call service centre that received a call from a student on the ship reporting the sinking.

Prosecutors also plan to question officials from the company that maintained and inspected life rafts and safety facilities on the ferry.

The prosecutor said they will also focus their investigations on other factors that could have affected the ship's sinking, including cargo stowage and an earlier remodelling of the ship.

Divers on Monday renewed their search for more than 100 bodies still trapped in the ferry after weekend efforts were hindered by bad weather, strong currents and floating debris clogging the ship's rooms.

AP TELEVISION

1. Various of prosecutors entering coast guard office

2. Security outside office as prosecutors are inside

3. Prosecutors carrying boxes of documents out of office

4. Prosecutors putting boxes into car

5. Prosecutors getting into car

6. Cars leaving site

South Korea's state-run forensic lab said on Friday it had failed to find why a fugitive billionaire, blamed for April's Sewol ferry disaster, had died.

Police said earlier this week that a badly decomposed body found in rural South Korea last month had been identified as that of Yoo Byung-eun.

Authorities had been looking for the 73-year-old, believing he owned the sunken ferry, and that his alleged corruption may have contributed to the disaster.

The state-run National Forensic Service said on Friday that Yoo's body was too badly decayed to determine whether he died of disease.

April's disaster, the worst in South Korea in decades, left more than 300 people dead or missing, mostly high school students.

AP TELEVISION

1. Seo Joong-seok, Director General of the National Forensic Service, standing at lectern to announce results of an investigation into the death of Yoo Byung-eun, fugitive owner of the Sewol ferry

2. Wide of the auditorium

3. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Seo Joong-seok, Director General of the National Forensic Service (NFS):

"In summarising the investigation result, the dead body found in Suncheon can be confirmed as Yoo Byung-eun. Even though we tried to investigate various causes of his death, the NFS could not find out the exact cause of Yoo's death under the given circumstances."

4. Mid of journalists

5. Close of slide that shows Yoo's decayed body

6. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Baek Seung-kyeong, Head of Drug, Poison, and Chemical Department at the NFS:

"This is a summarisation of the investigation result from the autopsy room. No unusual toxic substances were found in the liver-lung muscle, but a bit of alcoholic substance was found. However, it was below the general concentration level that can be found in ordinary decaying tissue."

7. Mid of journalists

8. Mid of the auditorium

9. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Han-young, Head of Forensic Medicine at the NFS:

"We, forensic scientists, say it is absolutely possible that the body can be reduced to skeleton, more precisely decomposed, in such a short period of time. Therefore it can be said that this matter should not be a controversy even among yourselves."

10. Mid of journalists

11. Wide of the auditorium

South Korea's central bank cut its key interest rate for the first time in 15 months on Thursday, providing support to an economy dragged down by the shock of a ferry sinking that killed hundreds of teenagers.

The Bank of Korea lowered its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.25 percent.

The bank had kept it unchanged since a rate cut in May 2013.

Analysts had predicted the bank to lower borrowing costs to boost consumer spending, which turned negative due to the shock of the Sewol ferry disaster earlier this year.

Last month, the bank cut this year's growth forecast for Asia's fourth-largest economy to 3.8 percent from 4.0 percent.

Weak domestic spending has been a source of concern.

South Korea's new finance minister unveiled stimulus measures in July to encourage spending by consumers and companies.

The bank was expected to aid the government's stimulus moves as low inflationary pressure gives room for easing.

The sinking in April of the Sewol ferry killed 294 people and left 10 missing, mostly teenagers on a school trip, causing a national outpouring of grief.

Consumer spending shrank in the April-June quarter, hitting its lowest in nearly three years.

1. Bank of Korea governor Lee Ju-yeol chairing monthly monetary policy meeting

2. Lee bangs gavel at start of meeting

3. Various of meeting

4. Lee walking into media briefing room

5. Tilt up of Bank of Korea sign to Lee speaking during briefing

6. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Ju-yeol, Governor of Bank of Korea:

"Today, at the Bank of Korea monetary policy meeting, a monetary policy has been adapted to lower the base interest rate from 2.50 percent to 2.25 percent."

7. Cutaway

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Ju-yeol, Governor of Bank of Korea:

"The economic recovery of the US has been on the rise. However, in the European areas, economic recovery continues to show a weakened presence. In the case of newly emerged markets: in China, the flow of economic recovery has continued, but in some nations the economic activity has been in a continual slump, so differences by country have appeared. In the international stock market, because of the influence of geopolitical risks, interest rates and stock prices have fallen, the US dollar has strengthened, and there has been an increase in fluctuation."

9. Wide of Lee giving briefing

South Korean prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that sank in April, killing more than 300 people, according to a news report on Monday.

Yonhap news agency reported that prosecutors also requested that a district court issue life sentences to three other key crew members tasked with navigating the ship on charges that they were negligent and failed to protect passengers when the ferry was sinking on April 16.

The crew members appeared before a court in Gwangju on Monday, with relatives of the victims gathered outside, pressing their call for a maximum punishment.

The captain of the Sewol and three other crew members have been indicted on murder charges alleging they were negligent and failed to protect passengers in need when the ferry was sinking.

Most of the dead were high school students who were travelling to a resort island for a school trip.

The 15 crew members who survived the disaster were among the first groups of people to flee the sinking vessel.

In their defence, the crew members have previously claimed that after evacuating the ship they stayed with the Coast Guard and helped to rescue the passengers.

AP TELEVISION

1. Parents of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster and members of the "Sewol Ferry Disaster Gwangju Citizen Committee", which supports the victims' families, gathered outside Gwangju District Court

2. Various of two mothers of student victims at gathering

3. Wide of gathering

4. Close of mother of student victim crying and wiping her eye

5. Two mothers of student victims at gathering

6. Pan of gathering

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean): Lim Young-ae, mother of a student victim of the Sewol ferry disaster:

"As a parent, I have to know why my child died, by revealing the truth (of the disaster). To appease my child's unfair death by revealing the truth, we parents want these crew members to get the maximum punishment."

8. Wide of gathering

9. Mothers raising fists during gathering

Surviving students of the Sewol ferry disaster on Wednesday attended a memorial service for classmates who died after the passenger ferry sank off the coast of South Korea.

Wearing white shirts and yellow ribbons - which became a symbol hope during the tragedy - the survivors grieved openly as they passed a wall of flowers on display for their classmates at a memorial in Ansan, a city near Seoul.

Students from Ansan's Danwon High School made up more than 80 percent of the dead and missing; they had been on their way to the southern tourist island of Jeju.

The director of the hospital where survivors were treated said those discharged on Wednesday showed no signs of serious symptoms but would be monitored on an ongoing basis.

In Jindo, meanwhile, the prime minister met experts to reassess the situation and to "reflect once again on whether there may be improvements or new approaches to be made".

Chung Hong-won offered his resignation over the government's handling of the sinking on Sunday, blaming "deep-rooted evils" in society for the tragedy.

Family members of those killed have dismissed as insincere President Park Geun-hye's apology for the government's handling of the disaster.

Two weeks after the ferry sank off South Korea's southern coast, divers have recovered 212 bodies from the wreckage.

They fought strong currents and floating debris inside the ship on Wednesday as they searched for 90 passengers still missing.

AP TELEVISION

Ansan

1. Various of Sewol ferry disaster survivors, in white shirts, grieving for classmates who died

2. Various of students arriving at memorial service

3. Various of students walking past flowers

4. Wide of memorial service

5. Ansan university hospital director Dr Cha Sang-hoon entering news conference

6. Wide of news conference

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Dr Cha Sang-hoon, Ansan university hospital director:

"In the case of the students who are being discharged, according to the examination results of the the medical team, there needs to be continued observation of any possible future symptoms that may appear. However, it is our judgement that the majority of the students do not currently show any serious symptoms that may lead to dangerous after-effects in the short-term. Our hospital will proceed with the treatment of the students and their guardians even after their discharge, and this will take place along with the school's psychiatric support programme."

8. Wide of news conference

Jindo

9. South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won entering news conference

10. Cutaway of various experts at meeting

11. Cutaway of South Korean officials at meeting

12. Wide of news conference

13. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Chung Hong-won, South Korean Prime Minister:

"We have invited every one of you experts to this table to recap the situation and to reflect once again on whether there may be improvements or new approaches to be made. We felt there is a necessity to gather wisdom from experts in each sector."

14. Various of Chung at news conference

The daughter of a South Korean fugitive businessman believed linked to a deadly April ferry disaster must stay in a French jail pending a decision on whether she is extradited, a court said on Wednesday.

Yoo Somena, daughter of billionaire Yoo Byung-eun, is facing extradition to South Korea based on suspicions of embezzling eight (m) million US dollars between 2004 and 2013.

She was detained on 27 May in Paris on an international warrant, but asked to be released pending the extradition decision on 17 September.

A Paris judge on Wednesday rejected the request, arguing that she could flee the country.

South Korean authorities are seeking to arrest Yoo Byung-eun, who is accused of tax evasion, embezzlement and professional negligence.

His family owns the parent company of the Sewol ferry that sank on 16 April, leaving more than 300 people dead or missing.

AP TELEVISION

July 9, 2014

1. Wide interior of Palais de Justice

2. Sign reading (French) "Appeals Court"

3. Various of Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer representing Yoo Somena, daughter of billionaire Yoo Byung-eun, who is facing extradition to South Korea

4. Maisonneuve entering courtroom

5. Maisonneuve in court

FILE: 11 June 2014

6. Various of courtroom sketch of Yoo Somena during hearing

July 9, 2014

7. Maisonneuve walking outside court room

8. SOUNDBITE (French) Patrick Maisonneuve, Yoo Somena's lawyer:

"The judges believe she could flee France and thus escape the French judicial process, and as a result believe that she should stay in French jail. Obviously I do not share this vision, as Mrs Yoo works here, has a house here, and a son here, that she has been here for more than a year, and has (in this country) the necessary guarantees."

9. Cutaway of photographer

10. SOUNDBITE (French) Patrick Maisonneuve, Yoo Somena's lawyer:

"She wants to defend her case because she knows that in South Korea she wouldn't have a fair trial. She is very conscious of that and, by the way, no South Korean lawyer has accepted to defend her - lawyers would have to be appointed to her case, but she doesn't have the guarantee of a fair trial in South Korea, and it is for that reason that we will reject the request for extradition."

11. Maisonneuve walking away

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Ansan - 16 April 2015

1. Relatives of Sewol ferry disaster victims and others entering the ceremonial ground in front of memorial stage

2. Various of relatives

3. Representative of the victims' families on stage

4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Yoo Kyung-geun, spokesman for the victims' families:

"We decided to cancel the official memorial ceremony after we determined that all the citizens of South Korea including the "4.16 family" (group representing the relatives of the victims) are not worthy of commemorating the 295 victims and 9 missing students."

5. Empty seats reserved for government officials

6. Various of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's empty seat

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Kim Sang-gil, father of Sewol ferry victim Kim Seung-hyuk:

"(The government should) swiftly accommodate our message and quickly give answers so that the truth is revealed."

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Kim Mi-hyun, mother of Sewol ferry victim Park Sung-bin:

"Even after one year, everything stays the same. As helpless parents, it is terrifying to see our children dying, but at least we have to know why they died. We asked (the government) to find out the reason, but it is not being done."

9. Various of relatives hugging

10. Interior of memorial

11. Photos of victims on wall

12. Pan from civil organisation holding placards to the memorial area

STORYLINE

Angry relatives of passengers who drowned in the Sewol ferry disaster cancelled a memorial service in Ansan on Thursday, in protest against President Park Geun-hye's absence from the event.

More than 300 people died, mostly high school pupils, when the Sewol sank in cold waters off the south-western South Korean coast exactly one year ago.

The relatives expressed their anger over Park not visiting the memorial service even though they had set aside a chair for her and not providing a firm commitment for a deeper investigation into what they say is government responsibility for the sinking and botched rescue.

The families also claimed that Park should have delivered a more detailed plan for salvaging the ship during a speech earlier in the day, according to Pil Kyu Hwang, a lawyer representing the families.

Park made her speech during a visit to the small port near the site of the sinking to offer her condolences to the bereaved relatives.

Most, however, refused to meet her, in protest of the government's handling of the sinking, and had already left the port.

Also Thursday, South Korean lawmakers adopted a resolution urging the government to salvage the ferry.

===========================================================

Clients are reminded:

(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com

(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service

(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Ansan - 12 April 2015

1. Sewol ferry accident survivor Yang Jeong-won in her old classroom

2. Yang looking at a photo on her mobile of her friends

3. Yang's phone chain shaped in a yellow ribbon, symbolising hope for Sewol victims to return alive

4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Yang Jeong-won, Sewol ferry disaster survivor: ++BACK FACING TO CAMERA++

"Even when all of us go out for a gym class, there are only a dozen. I wonder if some students are still in the classroom but no, that's all we have now."

5. Yang's yellow bracelet bearing 20140416, the day the incident happened

6. Classroom window with various condolence letters from other students in foreground, Yang with her head on a desk in background

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Yang Jeong-won, Sewol ferry disaster survivor: ++BACK FACING TO CAMERA++

"We (the surviving students) say that it is nonsense that the crew members received 10 to 30 years of prison time. I think they should be punished as heavily as possible so that such incidents can never happen again. It would be very hard for me to forgive them."

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Ansan - 10 April 2015

8. Portrait of ferry disaster victim Jeong Hwi-bum on his old desk

9. Jeong's mother Shin Jumja wiping clean her son's photo

10. Flowers with a letter reading (Korean) "I love you Hwi-bum"

11. Shin cleaning flowers on her son's desk

12. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Shin Jumja, mother of ferry disaster victim Jeong Hwi-bum:

"I come here thinking that Hwi-bum is playing here, taking classes here, maybe even having quarrels with friends. I feel comfortable coming to his classroom. When I come here with other mothers, I just clean and leave. I am more of a person who suppresses emotions rather than expressing them. I'm shy about expressing my feelings. When I come here by myself, I write letters and attach them on the desk, and look at Hwi-bum's photos in my mobile phone."

13. Tilt down of Park Bona, older sister of 17-year-old ferry disaster victim Park Seong-ho, praying at a makeshift church

14. Tilt up of Park praying

15. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Park Bona, Brother Park Seong-ho died in ferry disaster:

"After I lost Seong-ho on April 16th, working at a big company, graduating from college, making a lot of money, dating all became meaningless to me. About getting married having a baby�I thought what does it even mean to get married in a country that can't even protect my brother and my (future) child?"

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Ansan - 8 April 2015

16. Memorial altar for Sewol disaster victims

17. Victim portraits on altar

18. Group of students walking past memorial altar

19. Poster on wall with yellow ribbon reading (Korean) "We are sorry. We love you. We will never forget you. We will make safe South Korea."

20. Wide of memorial altar

STORYLINE

As the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster approaches, many survivors and relatives of those who died on that fateful day are still struggling to come to terms with the pain and sadness they have suffered over the past 12 months.

Seventeen-year-old Yang Jeong-won was one of the lucky ones when the ship capsized on 16 April 2014, killing 304 people.

She was one of only 75 of the 325 second year students from Danwon High School on the ship at the time who survived.

Yang suffers deep anxiety however and often stops by her old classroom to reminisce about her classmates and a beloved teacher who are no longer with her.

Yang and her classmates threw a surprise birthday party for their teacher Kim Cho-won on the ferry, to celebrate her 26th birthday.

A few hours later, on the morning of 16 April 2014, the ferry listed, flipped upside down and sank.

Out of 35 people in the birthday photo she still keeps on her mobile phone, Yang was one of only eight to be rescued.

A year later, Yang is now in her final year of high school, studying design and animation, part of a class that shrank from more than 300 to just 88 students.

She is still searching for answers to why friends who could have been saved had to die, and is angry at the ferry operator.

The ship became top-heavy after a redesign added more cargo and boosted profit.

She blames the government for not regulating ferry operators.

Yang is also enraged by the ship's crew, which escaped when students were trapped because they were told to wait inside.

The tragic accident has also had a big impact on the relatives of those who died.

Shin Jumja, mother of 18-year-old victim Jeong Hwi-bum, comes by her son's school once or twice a week for her own ritual and spends time looking at the picture of her teenage son.

While Park Bona has stopped caring about the things most other 20-something South Koreans are focused on since her 17-year-old brother died in the disaster.

Park, who was majoring in Korean language and literature in college, is now preparing to transfer to another university.

Her aim in life now is to help society remember the dead teenagers and to make South Korea a safer place.

===========================================================

Clients are reminded:

(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com

(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service

(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Jindo - 15 April 2015

1. Model of the sunken ferry Sewol carried along in front of stage during memorial ceremony at Paengmok Port

2. Young men carrying model

3. Various of relatives of those who died in disaster seated, some crying

4. Pan of relatives of victims whose bodies are still missing, holding signs insisting the ferry is salvaged

5. Various of Shamanist performance

6. Audience watching performance

7. Jeon Myung-sun on stage speaking to crowd

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Jeon Myung-sun, representative of Sewol ferry victims' families:

"I am sorry Chan-ho and the other children. This father does not have anything to say to you. It so hurts and is terrifying that we have to say these words. Why do we have to be like this? Why? Please someone tell us the answers."

9. Various of audience listening to speech, some crying

10. Various of Shamanist performance

11. Procession on stage, wishing farewell to those who died

STORYLINE

Relatives of those who died in the Sewol ferry disaster attended a memorial service on Wednesday at Paengmok Port in Jindo, close to the site where the ferry went down.

Thursday marks the first anniversary of the sinking in which 304 were killed in waters off the southwestern coast of South Korea, many of them high school students.

Among the 476 passengers only 172 survived and the bodies of nine of the victims are still missing.

A model of the sunken ferry was carried on stage during the service, adorned with yellow ribbons with messages wishing farewell to those who died.

A traditional Korean shamanism performance also took place to mourn the victims and to send them to good places in their afterlife.

Korean shamanism has deep roots in folk beliefs from ancient times.

During the service, relatives of victims still missing also insisted the government expedite the ship salvage process so that the remains of their love ones can finally be recovered.

===========================================================

Clients are reminded:

(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com

(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service

(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.