The Ferry Sewol Part 2: Never-Ending Heartbreak

[Music] foreign [Music] ah [Music] by the time orders from jindo station along with the coast guard cutter 3009 were being issued to the patrol boat to quote get in there and rescue the survivors the ferry was essentially rolling over soon to be completely inverted rendering entry into the vessel effectively impossible by this point the roughly one hour and 22 minute window of opportunity to rescue every single passenger on board from the first sign of emergency to the point of impossible entry or exit of the stricken vessel this golden hour was without a doubt almost completely wasted by personnel whose duty is to those under their charge we live our lives day in and day out taking these individuals for granted because in most situations around the world the coast guard emts firefighters rescue personnel of all types hell even mariners simply helping their fellow mariner they have a reputation we can largely rely upon for good reason for the 10th grade class from dan juan high school on april 16th it would be the complete opposite in the first few years of investigation there was much doubt and conspiracy theories thrown about not completely without merit of course in a situation like this but many found it unbelievable for the ferry to roll so severely under these circumstances also unbelievable at first and what would come to light later though is just how pathetically incompetent owner and operator chong hai jin marine were as a company in the previous episode we saw how the poorly maintained ballast system improper haphazard modifications raised center of gravity absence of lashings and massively overloaded cargo led to a shift in point of no return that would be seemingly unreasonable in an ocean-going vessel of this size under normal circumstances it cannot be overstated these weren't normal circumstances as the vessel was reaching a dangerous list the captain ordered one of his officers to initiate the anti-healing pumps pumps that effectively move the water around to the desired area of the hull in hopes to ride a ship and correct its list these pumps were found to be inoperable not that they had lost power or due to the vessels list but because they had been so poorly maintained for so long more importantly they're a part of or at least adjacent to the same system that controls ballast water coming in going out and between tanks in general if this system had been maintained similar to the anti-healing system the ballast tanks in the hull wouldn't have just been kept at a level too low to maintain stability it's likely the whole system had not been utilized or tended to at all and all this while the ship was routinely overloaded with unsecured cargo conflicting reports state though that chang hai jin intentionally blew out what they felt was excessive ballast water regularly in attempts to make it possible for overloading the load lines appearing at proper levels upon leaving port either way all of these conditions especially with this particular ferry's modifications raising the center of gravity meant it was the most susceptible to capsizing of any ship in the chonghaejin fleet as the company hadn't modified its other vessels in this particularly egregious way only the sea wall lasting this long only due to the relatively calm seas along the coast which likely lulled companies like these into a sense of complacency those in shipping in this area familiar with these ferries and routes knowing full well chong hai jin saw these vessels as little more than cargo ships cargo to and from jeju being the most profitable begrudgingly allowing passengers to tag along accounting for roughly 25 percent of the revenue on each voyage the modifications after all hadn't been performed to simply add passenger capacity they expanded cargo capacity the repurposed decking adding 65 plus more spaces for passenger vehicles roughly 58 of which having no tie-downs built into the deck for strap positions meant these vehicles raising the center of gravity couldn't have been lashed down even if the crew intended to yet another portion of the modifications the kr or korean registry of shipping simply signed off on in their inspection for one reason or another in addition in 2017 several quote black box type recording devices finally recovered from the huge number of vehicles carried inside the ferry combination dash cam mic and geforce sensors these units frequently equipped on vehicles in korea captured recordings of events from being loaded and parked all the way up to rollover when the vehicles became inverted or otherwise crushed crucially the g-force sensors revealing they detected no readings of forces exceeding normal sea travel various motion of light waves until the vehicles themselves began to slide after the list had worsened well after the abrupt turning inputs were made that caused the list the g-force is concurrent with vehicles sliding and impacting one another at this point there were no g-forces found prior to this listing condition that would suggest an impact explosion or collision of any kind an external impact of the magnitude theorized by some the ferry being rammed in the lower port bow or colliding with an underwater obstruction knocking it off course initially leading to the subsequent port side list an impact of this magnitude would have exerted massive g-forces onto these sensitive devices the investigative and pivotal journalist group nustappo broke this g-force sensor story in 2017 a very unique news outlet in korea one that stood on their own when the large majority of media simply parroted the south korean government's cover-up of the bot to rescue in the immediate aftermath nustapa continuing to stand alongside the parents all along the way helping to amplify their voices and seek justice in an atmosphere where the blue house korea's government leaders were overtly making attempts to silence dissenting opinion by threat of force legal persecution or both especially journalists the tragedy of this ferry exposing the larger issues rooted deep in south korean media government and the pivotal role genuine investigative journalism plays in our modern society something we'll delve into in detail later in this video at roughly 9 a.m jeju coast guard dispatched rescue helicopter b-513 and mokpo coast guard units dispatched helicopters b-511 and b-512 magpul coast guard patrol vessel 123 was dispatched around this same time the first helicopter on scene by 927 to patrol vessel 123 by 930 and the other two helicopters by 32 and 9 45. as we saw in part 1 though none of which in communication with one another yet of the many failures in communication perhaps the most egregious stemmed from decisions made just prior to those poor communications to begin with see the commanding officer of mokpo coast guard group the highest ranking officer in the general area was currently aboard the 3 000 ton cutter 3009 anchored some 70 miles away the average top speed of a cutter this size being 25 plus knots would put this cutter at roughly two and a half hours away and thus at this time the mock pole group cutter would dispatch its helicopter number b512 intended to be the command unit on scene and under normal circumstances would carry the high ranking commander so that he could coordinate rescue efforts with eyes directly on scene immediately however this commander felt he was too tired from the cutter's mission that previous night guiding foreign fishing boats through korean waters he felt his fatigue and the helicopter's loud noise would prevent him from properly performing these duties thus dispatching helicopter b-512 from the cutter without climbing a board also deciding not to get cutter 3009 immediately underway toward the scene either expecting to coordinate efforts remotely without the situation's default commander this would then lead to further complications and confusion in chain of command add to this mokpo coast guard command center had started a social media messenger group and began inviting all coast guard units to the chat except for jindo station jindal station being one of the few that had communicated directly with chong hai jin crew aboard the stricken ferry and this online chat group made instead of any sort of unified radio frequencies once patrol vessel 123 arrived on the scene its captain was given de facto command over the rescue a decision made by the highest ranking officers of korea's coast guard this decision overriding the makpo commander aboard the cutter and from what i can gather also without his awareness regardless whoever was quote assigned the role of commander would matter little anyhow just prior though helicopter b-512 was designated as the command unit arriving soon along with the other two rescue aircraft it was not in communication with any units on scene though and would instead become the direct line of communication to the blue house korea's government leaders simply loitering in the area and watching not aiding in rescue efforts the two other helicopters immediately attempting to rescue those on the ship's still exposed starboard side rescuing a handful of survivors they were only in communication with each other or their respective stations makpo and jeju coordinating with no other units on scene patrol vessel 123 after two to three unsuccessful attempts to contact the bridge of the sea wall the ferry's crew now only in contact with their corporate offices and jindo station would approach the vessel and rescue a handful of survivors directly onto the patrol vessel's bow the ferry's captain and handful of other officers with him out of uniform in an effort to hide his identity as the patrol vessel indeed didn't immediately recognize him in their rush to bring this group aboard captain lee intentionally passing himself off as a normal passenger at this point there would be no one else aboard the ferry's bridge to communicate with vessel 123 captain lee's identity effectively unknown still he had no intention of passing along any pertinent info about passengers still aboard either meanwhile a coast guard crewman deployed a life raft or two amid the hasty rescue with the patrol boat the life rafts would simply float nearby unused the patrol vessel's crew refusing to penetrate any further into the stricken ferry refusing to use their loudspeaker to blast out abandoned ship orders towards the ferry and effectively keeping their distance well before a complete rollover ensued only sending their inflatable once more to aid in the cluster of small boats scrambling in those final moments but again crucial moments quickly passing to enter the vessel and verify all souls were accounted for jindal station did have the crucial information that more than 400 total were on board and quote unable to move communicated to them via one of the ferry's officers but remained unable to reach any coast guard units on scene prior to their escape the chong hai jin personnel aboard the ferry in contact with jindo station ignoring their orders to sound evacuation alarms too preoccupied with numerous calls to company headquarters and soon after quickly following the captain anyway to get themselves to safety as the patrol vessel approached since jindo station was possibly the only external contact still trying to communicate that survivors were left on board by this point the two helicopters in contact with their own stations helicopter b-512 with the blue house and cutter three zero zero nine patrol vessel one two three in contact only with civilian vessels on scene and mock post station ignoring or otherwise neglecting that mokpo did relay the information about trapped survivors early on meant all units in this literal golden hour the window that rescue could be realistically carried out with minimal risk before the ship was inverted they would all plead ignorance to the situation inside the various compartments later on rather than admitting their own cowardice preventing them from venturing into the vessel while still able under reasonable expectations coast guard crews would typically account for how many survivors are in the water still aboard have been rescued and so on losing track of all this while on scene with a stricken vessel well known to routinely carry hundreds on board is grossly negligent to say the least a prison-worthy criminal act of inhumane selfish cowardice in my view okay [Music] foreign [Music] regardless of all this the first point of an evacuation is mustering or moving all souls aboard to evacuation points with their numbers then accounted for making use of life rafts flotation devices or at the very least remaining atop and visible while the vessel still floats for as long as possible until help arrives given the sea wall did at least have flotation devices functional life rafts evidenced by coast guard crewmen deploying them an unused raft still floating nearby and numerous vessels of various sizes ready and able on scene within the first 30 minutes the likelihood all souls aboard would have survived was extremely high the captain of the doula ace an oil tanker on scene from the beginning stating he could tell by the radio calls only the inexperienced officers were those attempting any kind of coordination not the fairies captain himself this person was inexperienced says moon in an emergency it should be the captain on the radio you need to make decisions fast if there was a golden hour for rescue this window from roughly 8 50 a.m to 10 10 a.m was it but korea's blue house a voice on the phone directly representing the president and prime minister's interests wasn't concerned with the rescue itself communicating throughout via helicopter b-512 the government official on the line was more concerned with the appearance of a proper rescue and how it would look on television president park herself remained unreachable for upwards of seven hours throughout this process with the help of her aides after the fact fabricating a story and schedule of being on quote official duties while the incident unfolded that day park finally appearing to make a statement from the blue house at approximately 5 35 p.m the ship fully capsized and hundreds still accounted for by 10 30 am the actions of these would-be leaders these cowards would go from horrible to levels of inhumane that remain to this day difficult to comprehend and still largely unresolved as you're probably aware by now the children aboard had smartphones it was 2014 after all most passengers had a cell phone for that matter and with working cell service the vessel not straying far from the coast and its voyage to jeju hundreds of passengers were in constant contact with loved ones via texts photo and video messages phone calls and voicemails there was no shortage of real-time updates going out to many concerned parties throughout korea however the korean government would begin manipulating the quote official story immediately even as the situation unfolded the ferry in this inverted position with the bow visible would indeed unfortunately be in a position no one could enter not even divers as there would be no way to know if or when it would finish sinking to the sea floor the water is approximately 44 meters or 140 feet deep in this area the only viable option prior to being fully submerged would be the task of pumping air into the capsized vessel in an effort to improve its buoyancy and eventually allow for entry and rescue however without experts involved this could put the survivors at further risk of asphyxiation via contaminated air not an impossible solution though if you have the right specialists in equipment crucially air pockets and capsized vessels are a verifiable phenomenon and there are records of survivors found in sunken vessels that have come to rest on the seafloor alive in waters at or near these depths upwards of 60 hours later with many experts agreeing up to 72 hours being possible now due to depressurization needs and once the vessel is stable enough to enter these rescue conditions are extremely precarious even for the most experienced rescue divers not only would a vessel like this be a dangerous overhead environment but initially finding survivors would be a monumental task not to mention exfiltration from that same environment with survivors in tow along with the need for an on-site decompression chamber to bring the survivors into immediately before they can surface with that said though while highly difficult and requiring specialists this is not an impossibility either and its practice at least by professionals experienced in saturation confined space diving takes place more often than you might think otherwise diving in a situation like this without such experts precautions or resources available is often a death sentence itself families took it upon themselves to gather on jindo island later that day in an impromptu facility that was a purported meeting point set up by the government for quote those that had been rescued the quote official narrative being parroted by many korean media outlets now and authorities scrambling to maintain it this wouldn't just be construed in the news but also in person to those parents and loved ones who had quickly gathered midday in that jindo gymnasium officials getting up on stage making announcements posting official looking lists of children's names falsified to look as though they were accounted for and even reassuring parents friends and family members person to person that their lost loved ones were either already rescued still on their way in the process of being rescued or otherwise not to worry because they were all doing their best unbelievably as families and loved ones began challenging these so-called authority figures these officials were actually surprised at how up-to-date the parents information was by this point it's easy to see how callous and uncaring these suits were but this also revealed just how truly out of touch they were with reality in general sure they were pretending to have the situation in hand for whatever reason save face inconsiderate etc but it seemed as though they were truly surprised that people with cell phones had up-to-date real-time information the higher-ups in korean government completely delusional in buying into their own story they believed was somehow preserved when in fact dozens of civilians were on site in plain view attempting rescue right in the face of the coast guard not to mention all the communication with loved ones from passengers as this was taking place the atmosphere in the gym understandably intensified coast guard cutter 3009 and that high-ranking commander who'd been too tired to embark earlier finally arrived on scene mid-afternoon there had also been a handful of korean navy vessels that arrived within the first few hours but kept their distance deferring to the coast guard presumably in the meantime contrary to the downright insidious attempts to convince the korean public that everyone had been rescued there were some attempts more like platitudes quietly being made by officials to weigh their options as the vessel remained just barely buoyant plans like floating the vessel with air pumped in by hoses actually sending divers down to search word of these plans albeit not actually taken seriously by those entertaining them would in one way or another reach the families at the rescue center the loved ones understandably reaching for hope in any way they could many civilian divers taking the initiative to get involved however they could once they'd received word of this debacle others less convinced to get involved due to the spread of misinformation across major media outlets a civilian diver who was adamant in getting involved was brought aboard cutter 3009 to speak for their group for a quote planning meeting in this regard speaking later to new stapa under condition of anonymity for the safety of he and his family terrorism my probably needless to say by this point the republic of korea refused aid from the u.s japan and any other professional rescue divers or recovery firms as well authorities then began to give the impression that either survivors or otherwise recovered victims were being brought to pangmak harbor just a couple hours bus ride to the southwest on jindo island it's thought this was a stall tactic by the government not expecting desperate families and parents to follow up surprised once again that many immediately went to the harbor to seek answers at pingmonk harbor there were no officials no lost loved ones waiting to be reunited nothing just the media who had arrived quickly in full force as well filming the suffering families like they were stars of some kind of reality show very few media members concerned with the actual matter at hand and children suffering in the yellow sea so the families rented their own right out there via fishing boats to see for themselves to their horror all of the government's excuses rough waters strong currents and all their boasting about how many were actively searching diving rescuing none of this was true there were times of day given no rough weather that all conditions can reach a point where the water was like glass in this portion of the yellow sea if there was a time that anything could be done this would be another of those golden hours the families had started coordinating their efforts by this point remaining in close communication with one another as they became more spread out investigating for themselves eventually the coast guard would assign a vessel to bring family members out to the site later that night or so they'd have the families believe once the vessel arrived though it was too crowded with state influence media the operators of the vessel not allowing anyone else on board there were however unbeknownst to the government a handful of rogue journalists at pangmaw harbor whose goal was to get at the truth damn the consequences parents and families kicked the state's media cronies off the vessel and started boarding allowing only their most trusted journalists aboard the families already prepared to use their own devices to record as well the next morning the scene was swarming with even more vessels as the korean government had brought in private contractor undine marine industries company this empty gesture of again formulating a rescue plan was just that empty as all the politicians gathered on a vessel nearby making it appear as though they were intending to float the ferry via pumped in air or otherwise carry out some sort of rescue effort they had no intention though of going through with any of this to the frustration of everyone on site in actuality barring anyone but those in their circle from any real attempts especially the civilian divers ready to risk their lives and do whatever they could the government only having someone pretend to dive and pinpoint the children's location inside later that second day april 17th many families had returned to the gymnasium where they could at least comfort each other prime minister chung second only to korea's president arrived in the evening but by this time the few government officials that were there had been worsening the situation again for hours nearing their breaking point right when the prime minister entered the crowd turned on him and he fled immediately soon after president park emerged publicly for the second time this time visiting the gymnasium just after the prime minister was forced out park surrounded by a massive entourage of politicians security and more importantly the chief of the coast guard kim sioux goon at this point the korean people still had some hope that if anyone could do something it would be the president herself unfortunately they were gravely mistaken the chief kim and president park calmly reciting the same false narrative the family seemingly and stunned belief at how this abysmal excuse for leadership appeared right before their eyes to now go all the way to the very top and numbers of those rescued still on board unaccounted for and even souls lost being reported by government officials and state influence media all varying wildly from one report to the next [Music] [Music] on april 18th day three morning broke and the korean government had decided that indeed the one company they'd allowed to take part in any capacity should bring in their old compressor units and fill the vessel with air at 9 am mundine showed up with this old compressor but this was in no way an undertaking such a company had any experience with let alone the proper equipment the units were old just some gas-powered industrial air compressors that if used likely would have put any survivors at risk of asphyxiation and any sort of company or nation with the capability to perform this sort of task properly or bring someone in who could with the proper equipment remain turned away by the korean government the republic of korea allowing the u.s navy to provide search assistance via aircraft only the uss bonhomme richard on scene since the ferry capsized assistance from the rescue helicopters turned away the day of and since kept their distance throughout the ordeal the bonhomme richard being a wasp-class light aircraft carrier carries multiple air and watercraft capable of rescue many men and women on board mobilizing immediately prior to being turned away these aircraft now just loitering in the area providing aid in search only which is why we have many of these scenes you're seeing here but officials would relay the news of this compressor being on scene and the coast guard now filling the vessel with air as if they'd actually started this monumental task properly igniting hopes once again which simply wasn't the case and these disgraceful officials knew it three hours later during the supposed air pumping process the ferry disappeared below the waves sinking completely at this point of the 476 on board 172 had been rescued three of the 14 teachers 75 of the 325 students and 22 of the 33 crew members leaving 304 total unaccounted for again the chances are likely there were still air pockets trapped in the ship and survivors within them many experts agreeing 72 hours would be the approximate length of survival in such a situation if an air pocket is stabilized the survivors are then at risk of hypothermia dehydration or asphyxiation due to co2 buildup the ability to stay warm illumination of any kind drinking water and a place to remain completely dry ranging from extremely difficult to impossible to find as time wears on there are many stories of bravery and heroics amongst the overwhelming cowardice bravery amongst some crew members who stood up for these passengers among school teachers and of course all the students themselves will forever be the heroes to shine the brightest in this story later in the day the coast guard finally started to concede in incremental steps effectively handing off rescue and recovery efforts to und stating the private sector surpassed their capabilities which in this instance was a very low bar considering the korean coast guard and navy had little to no training equipment or apparently interest in these specific tasks anyway the coast guard admitting to this somewhat indirectly that same day as well admitting that their only capability was open water scuba diving civilian divers were going to start doing what they could now and no one would stop them in fact the coast guard of course taking credit for quote mobilizing them with undine more or less taking over the scene and civilian diver is hard at work now three bodies were recovered the first since april 16th the day of capsizing however despite being found and recovered by those brave civilian divers putting their own lives at risk the coast guard would give the credit to the undine company there was also much infighting between undine and the korean coast guard as time wore on as the korean government would concede more and more control over the scene and the need for anyone who could dive became clear more divers would start getting involved korean navy divers undine and the civilian divers making up the large majority all at various levels of certification with equipment of various condition now at this depth performing tasks like search and recovery of bodies is difficult enough an extremely dangerous situation even for the most well-equipped professional divers and without experienced professionals and their equipment who could perform depressurization and rescue exfiltration of those potentially alive in air pockets submerged for days now realistically was next to impossible the 72 hour mark also having come and gone as well this was made all the more complicated by eager teams of divers not unified in their organization the area also swarming with surface vessels many just moving about randomly of all kinds by this time and as updates from the situation were differing wildly from korean media and official government updates non-existent to outside entities search and rescue remained a legitimate task in the surrounding areas the u.s navy continuing their search from the air tireless recovery efforts some civilian divers working to the point of exhaustion would continue through the weeks to follow with the total victims recovered reaching 250 by late june at this point 11 children were still confirmed missing coast guard officials and also korea's ministry of ocean fisheries were still more or less getting in the way the entire time trying to create political red tape constantly for these divers to adhere to on july 10th the coast guard chief made an announcement hundine would be out and in their place the company 88 underwater development would take over a korean company comprised of professional civilian divers with more advanced certifications using nitrox more akin to saturation diving allowing for more extended periods underwater and thus more thorough search and discovery but the coast guard officials on site seem to push back even more as if further embarrassed now since they were completely untrained and unfamiliar with these more advanced diving methods in addition to 88 underwater development by july 11th what was to be one of the biggest steps forward in this final search for the missing ended up being one of the biggest slaps in the face to the families leading the charge on scene the korean coast guard finally yielding forming an ambitious plan quote unquote in plain sight of the families of course brought on extended duration dive team professionals from the u.s one private group of professionals and their u.s navy counterparts the coast guard actually made a big show of this gesture these team leads were brought aboard a coast guard command ship and then escorted out to assess the diving site itself the dive team leaders fully prepared to take on this task see in the world of scuba professional and saturation diving amongst those who dive professionally at least safety is taken very seriously it's the priority over everything else foreign i said they may not come they may not look at me they may not analyze they may not check my equipment it's unfair and it's dangerous if they are diving no way they are dangerous they are dangerous foreign this barge full of some 200 bickering officials coast guard officials korea's ministry of ocean and fisheries korean navy divers and eager civilian divers this barge at the scene positioned directly over the ferry was a total and intentional cluster the republic of korea coast guard their lawyers navy officials getting handsy with everyone's dive equipment as if to be inspecting it constantly even though they weren't qualified in its use to begin with requiring nonsense paperwork be filled out over and over by the 88 team and other civilian divers due to the coast guard's new quote rotating precise search initiative trying to play nanny over every little thing each team did or reported on hovering in and around at shallower depths with their divers running interference to quote supervise unorganized lines anchors and hoses dropped in the water all around it was an overtly dangerous situation for everyone at the site the u.s navy and professional dive teams would leave this scene and never return due to these issues the coast guard still refusing to make the scene physically safe for proper extended duration diving now keep in mind throughout all this the families were creating initiatives protesting the government's actions bringing on lawyers raising awareness and fighting to keep this in the public eye and pigmark harbor became a monument to those lost yet park's administration was still not being widely reported by korean media as having any fault at all in fact journalists speaking out against park's right-wing administration at all were being bullied in a submission even those from other countries the japanese government has slammed korean prosecutors decision to indict a japanese reporter on charges of defaming president park geun-hye speaking at a press conference on thursday japan's chief cabinet secretary yoshihide sugar said freedom of the prayer should be respected and that the indictment was far out of the norms of the accepted wisdom in the international community nustapa stood strong alongside loved ones even publishing their expose with the help of the families as early as august 5th just five months after the incident while tensions were still at their highest other korean media outlets not daring to speak out against the ruling party for fear of reprisal these tensions lasting for more than a year much of the information of what truly happened would have been lost if not for their brave efforts in the background and foreground for that matter by september with the dive team still at it underwater footage being reviewed by professionals and questionable detection device results provided by the coast guard and ministry of fisheries only one of the 11 missing had been recovered thus far the coast guard at this point making it their priority to convince the families of the missing to call off the search on october 28th another body was found in a bathroom but this wasn't just another recovery this proved even more wrongdoing by the coast guard the danwon high school student was found in an area claimed to have been searched all the way back in late july and then records of this particular surrounding area being quote searched numerous times after that in addition water samples taken for the detection of bodies nearby which is a verifiable method used in forensics were being falsified the samples supposedly taken within the ship's compartments were actually found to be taken at a shallower depth possibly even taken lazily at the surface professor coo an underwater forensics and exploration expert analyzing tape of dive searches discovered inconsistencies with this footage as well upon comparing footage from the summer to fall searches and then diving himself later on with his team to perform their own search it was concluded much of the footage of what was purportedly specific areas of the ship where the children would have been was either incorrect mislabeled or otherwise falsified as well professor kuh concluded that of the search results government officials continued to release without verification only about half were actually performed with this information now exposed searches would again be performed this time it's felt properly but with no positive results and on november 10th 2014 the ferry would be sealed off by divers the search coming to an end families and their supporters now left only to plead for the recovery of the vessel in its entirety and once again president park and her administration go silent about the matter nearing the one-year anniversary the families and their supporters having never let up the fight for the truth and the need for closure on those still missing president park suddenly announces a plan to recover the ferry a plan filled with ifs and of course a seeming lack of confidence the government announced its intention to start surveying the area in preparation to lift the vessel and the ministry of ocean and fisheries announcing they felt it's definitely possible however rather than bringing in experts right away to start the process officials would use these quote ocean examinations as a stalling tactic since they had no means and likely no intention to actually recover the vessel themselves to begin with as recovery would no doubt require the help of an outside firm or nation and of course funding government officials then started publishing reasons why the vessel's recovery would be too expensive or a waste of resources and on and on even when asked directly a high-level member of congress doubled down on this rationale this conclusion reached what 12 months after the incident nustapa uncovered that seven or more firms specializing in exactly this type of vessel salvage had submitted their highly detailed proposals by april 30th of 2014 just two weeks after the incident itself these proposals went completely ignored by the park administration and coast guard but proof was found they'd actually been reviewed by the ministry of ocean and fisheries that following may less than a month after the ferry sank each company having submitted legitimate professional tenders for project proposals to immediately salvage the vessel whenever requested one of the exact same plans that a firm called tmc decided would be best was read word for word from the nearly year-old proposals read off at a press conference by the ministry of ocean and fisheries as if to be their idea and the idea they'd move forward with the ministry of ocean and fisheries official that came forward to nustapa under condition of anonymity revealed this plan was not spoken of since its proposal the year before because the republic of korea wanted to avoid the raising of the vessel entirely using quote data gathering and ocean evaluation as stall tactics [Music] [Music] investigation committee for the seawall ferry would be formed comprised of government officials who were supposedly on the side of the families to get to the truth and by late march 2015 the families attempted to take their protest directly to the blue house the ruling party and the park administration started a smear campaign aimed at taking down the newly formed special investigation committee or sic and soon crack started showing in the sic itself its own vice chairman cho showing signs of overt corruption and misappropriation of funds a week later this special investigation committee's primary and highest level members were withdrawn by vice chairman cho those few honest members left feeling powerless and families enraged that yet again another platitude was disguised as an honest gesture the family members would continue appealing to the humanity of these suits despite the humane reactions of some these appeals were lost on the large majority of most their humanity lost long ago [Music] and [Music] those few honest members remaining not under the influence of the ruling party again left powerless and crucially these stall tactics were used for one more important and nefarious reason according to korean law the protection of communication secrets act requires government officials to preserve records of communication for only one year by this point mid-april of 2015 one year had elapsed from the sinking of the seawall and more importantly each passing day meant more and more government phone calls and communications in the immediate aftermath could be destroyed as well this combined with the fact that as time passed the vessel itself suffered more and more degradation at the bottom of the yellow sea it's thought the park administration hoped this would also reach a point where evidence would be nearly impossible to deduce from the ferry once salvaged and not surprisingly one year on it became clear to experts that nustapa had interviewed regarding data and online trends the ruling party was hoping the discussion of the topic in general would fade and pressure began to subside but the data proved the complete opposite amongst the korean public and the government's spin was becoming less and less effective on the entire populace now [Applause] thank you [Applause] in 2016 park's corruption would begin to surface running deep within south korea's ruling sainuri party the seawall tragedy raising major questions into her administration and as more came to light it became obvious the corruption the embezzlement park's own personal dalliances the interests of parties outside the government influencing many administration decisions a long story in itself much of this would lead to one of the largest and longest protests in korea's history the candlelight protests lasting from november 2016 to march 2017. regardless of the media spin this massive stand taken against park's administration was inspired by and in memory of those lost in the fairy tragedy park's approval ratings falling in november of 2016 her personal relationship with choi soon-sil was exposed and proven beyond the shadow of a doubt choi a major player in korea's most corrupt tribals those conglomerates of corporations working to control the government from behind the scenes proven to have been pulling the president's strings all throughout her tenure and later discovered that choi had been the one sending corrupt officials after journalists for defamation of the park administration namely the japanese journalist that exposed these anti-freedom of the press issues and all with the blessing of park not like against her will or anything when news finally came of a majority vote by lawmakers to impeach president park it was a moment of bittersweet victory the vote taking place in december of 2016 and would be carried out in early march of 2017. plans to raise the ferry would soon be enacted mere weeks after parks ouster the firm chosen for this task would be shanghai salvage company a company out of china specializing in such operations and being from china their equipment located not all that far away either what the park administration had done was blame the event in its entirety on chong hai jin the ferry's owner and operators not completely unfounded these arrests were swift just three days after the incident captain lee and those crew members who joined him leaving their fellow colleagues and passengers to die were quickly arrested although the prosecution requested the death penalty the 70 year old captain was given a life sentence and 14 of his complicit colleagues sentences ranging from 18 months to 12 years each the chairman of chiang hai jin marine at the time a real piece of work himself was the owner of the fairy and a man of great wealth a long story on its own this man would go into hiding upon receiving word of his arrest warrant in may of 2014 just weeks after the fairy sank for a time he was south korea's most wanted fugitive eventually found dead under highly suspicious circumstances in july of 2014 only being identified by his dna as his body was so decomposed when discovered his clothing so unusual and belongings not characteristic of such a businessman authorities first thought they'd found a homeless man three more have used relatives also given jail sentences around the same time for embezzlement the captain of patrol vessel 123 57 year old kim kyung il was sentenced to four years in prison in february of 2015. the inept coast guard was disbanded by vote of lawmakers in november of 2014 president park transferring their duties in the meantime to the national police and department for national safety remaining in this state until newly elected president moon jae-in revived the coast guard in july of 2017 technically operating under the supervision of the ministry of oceans and fisheries in july of 2018 the republic of korea for the first time acknowledged the government was at fault for the tragedy of the seawall ferry although it meant little by this time the families would receive approximately 200 million won or 177 thousand dollars for each victim lost chief of the coast guard at the time of the fairy sinking kim sio kun one of those highest level officials blatantly lying directly to the families in the jindo gymnasium amongst countless other related atrocities was eventually acquitted of all charges including negligent homicide as recently as february 15 2021 former president park would be arrested in march of 2017 after impeachment was carried out convicted of abuse of power leaking government secrets bribery her 25-year sentence handed down in the summer of 2018 was then reduced to 20 years by an appeal in july of 2020. in december of 2021 park received a pardon by sitting president moon jae-in and is currently free her imprisonment a source of major division in korea with the right-wing conservative pro-park groups denouncing moon's administration for her imprisonment it's reported moon made this decision to pardon her in a bid to win over some of this opposition due to a current tight presidential race of the divers risking their lives kim guan hong was possibly the most outspoken the nightmare scenes these divers saw in the maze of wreckage helping to pull bodies out for days weeks on end and then after the fact standing up to the inept government in solidarity with so many grieving parents on june 17 2016 kim was found dead of apparent sue at his home in goyang kim was amongst many heroes that disaster produced both on the day of and in the aftermath 22 year old park ji young a part-time chong hye jin employee an engaged couple kim ki woon and jung hyun soon stayed on board helping get victims to safety and provide them life jackets despite the stay put orders guiding some of those students to safety who actually were rescued and instead of joining them continued going back to help more their remains found later these heroes declared martyrs and buried in korea's national cemetery the heroes surviving victims loved ones the total people directly affected numbering in the thousands so many young lives were cut short the massive undertaking of raising the ferry starting march 22 of 2017. the joint venture between shanghai salvage and ale lifting company was completed with the vessel being placed on the dock in mokpo harbor on friday march 31st 2017 this would allow the retrieval of much of the children's cell phone footage you see these days in videos stored on these devices and recovered by forensic teams the search of the vessel was declared finished more than a year later on october 19 2018 with five children still unaccounted for but of course all living on forever in the hearts of those who knew them so so you

Channel: Brick Immortar

Views: 519,948

Keywords: south korea, sewol ferry, korea now, sewol ferry tragedy, mv sewol, the sinking of the mv sewol, sinking of mv sewol, incheon ferry, port of jeju, paengmok harbor, president park geun-hye sewol, korea coast guard, danwon high school, south korea ferry, ferry naminoue, chonghaejin marine, 세월호, 한국 페리, 페리 나미노우에, sewol ferry documentary, south korean ferry, why did the sewol sink, how did the sewol ferry sank, what was the sewol ferry incident, incheon to jeju, ferry boat

Id: LMZIwHxVTtc

Length: 54min 6sec (3246 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 27 2022