South Korea offers little in way of legal recourse for sunken ferry crew

A funeral service employee puts up a portrait of victims of sunken passenger ship Sewol at the official memorial altar in Ansan May 2, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

MOKPO South Korea (Reuters) - South Korea's legal system appears to be failing 15 surviving crew of a ferry that sank last month, killing hundreds of children, with their being tried and convicted by an angry public before the case has even come to court.

Lawyers are agonising over how they can mount a convincing defence of the crew, who jumped ship as the children waited in their cabins, dressed in life jackets, obediently following orders before a disaster that put the whole country in mourning.