SEOUL: Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye’s actions in the first seven hours of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking, which left 304 dead or missing, have remained mostly undisclosed for over a decade.
But the Seoul High Court ruled on April 10 that the Presidential Archives had no grounds to keep the much-disputed record undisclosed, potentially paving the way for the related documents to be released to the public.
The ruling is the latest in a case brought by Song Ki-ho, a lawyer for the Lawyers for a Democratic Society at the time, in 2017.
Song, who is now the presidential secretary for economic security, filed the case to reverse the Park administration’s decision to designate Sewol documents as presidential records that cannot be disclosed.
The non-disclosure involved the documents made by the government on April 16, 2014, the day the ferry sank off the coast of South Jeolla Province, taking most of its passengers with it.
Song challenged the decision, arguing that there were no clear grounds for non-disclosure, such as a threat to national security.
After back-and-forth court rulings, the Supreme Court ordered in 2025 that the Sewol documents should be reviewed again.
It rejected an earlier appellate ruling that said the records could not be disclosed as they had been archived in the presidential records.
The Presidential Archives can still challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court, but the decision was welcomed by the families of the tragedy victims.
Activist Ryu Hyun-ah, part of the 4.16 Foundation established by the bereaved families, said it presented an opportunity to “open the door to the truth”, with the 12-year anniversary of the tragedy approaching.
The sinking of the Sewol is one of the deadliest maritime disasters in the country’s history. Many of the victims were high school students on their way to a field trip.
Then president Park’s office never explained why she only made a public appearance at around 5.15pm local time, more than seven hours after she gave the first instructions related to the accident.
In 2018, prosecutors under her successor Moon Jae-in concluded that Park did no work at all on the morning of the sinking, instead doing her hair and meeting with Choi Soon-sil, her civilian confidante and the person later found to have influenced Park on various state matters. - The Korea Herald/ANN
