SEOUL, An appellate court ordered the state Wednesday to pay compensation to survivors of a deadly 2014 ferry sinking and their family members, maintaining a lower court’s decision holding the state accountable for one of the country’s worst maritime disasters.
The Seoul High Court ruled partially in favor of the 55 survivors and their families who lodged the suit, ordering the state and Cheonghaejin Marine Co., the shipping company that had owned the Sewol, to pay 80 million won (US$60,314) each to most of the survivors.
The amount of compensation for six survivors was raised by between 2.2 million won and 40 million won in recognition of aftereffect disorders they suffered after surviving the sinking of the ferry Sewol that claimed the lives of 304 people, mostly high school students on a school trip.
The court also kept the amount of compensation for families the same as in the lower court’s ruling.
A total of 76 survivors and their family members had filed the suit after they rejected the government’
s offer of compensation under a special law enacted in 2015 on the grounds that they cannot accept the compensation when the truth behind the tragedy was not fully revealed.
After the district court’s ruling in 2019, 21 plaintiffs accepted the compensation, while the 55 others appealed the decision to the high court.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
