That simple safety step — an attempt to avoid dangerous overloading — is one of a host of regulatory changes made since the sinking of the Sewol ferry, one of South Korea’s most traumatic peacetime disasters. A year ago this week, the accident claimed the lives of more than 300 passengers, most of them teenagers on a school trip to Jeju.
The overloading helped doom the ferry when it made a sharp turn in dangerous currents. But it was just one of numerous regulatory sins so serious that the country’s president, Park Geun-hye, vowed to untangle long-tolerated collusive ties with industry that many believe were at the heart of the tragedy.
But government critics remain bitter, convinced Ms. Park’s administration is more interested in moving past the tragedy that has threatened to become her biggest legacy than in undertaking a serious investigation of the disaster and bungled rescue. They cite recent safety lapses on ships as evidence of continued wrongdoing.
Last weekend, thousands of people, including 70 of the Sewol victims’ parents who shaved their heads in protest, marched in downtown Seoul to demand that a new investigation be opened.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/world/asia/legacy-of-south-korea-sewol-ferry-sinking.html?_r=0
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