ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
June 2, 2014
South Korean president wants
coast guard disbanded
By Hyung-jin Kim
The Associated Press
S
FLIGHT DELAY. Feng Yi, one of two giant pandas from China, sits
in a cage upon arrival at the cargo terminal of Kuala Lumpur International
Airport in Sepang, Malaysia. The pandas, named Fu Wa and Feng Yi,
arrived in Malaysia to mark 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two
countries. The pandas are on loan to Malaysia for ten years. (AP Photo/
Vincent Thian)
Two pandas arrive in Malaysia
from China after delay
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Two giant pandas
have arrived in Malaysia from China after a one-month
delay due to the missing Malaysian jetliner.
Male Fu Wa and female Feng Yi are on a 10-year loan
from China to commemorate the 40th anniversary of
diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Upon their arrival on a special plane, they were taken to
a specially built complex at the national zoo, where they’ll
be quarantined for a month before receiving visitors.
The scheduled arrival of the pandas was postponed out
of respect for relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia
Airlines Flight 370. The search is ongoing for the plane,
which vanished while flying from Kuala Lumpur to
Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board, mostly
Chinese.
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Difficulty level: Medium
EOUL, South Korea — South
Korea’s president has pledged
to disband the coast guard
amid mounting criticism of its failure
to save hundreds of passengers
trapped in a sinking ferry. Critics
said President Park Geun-hye was
trying to shift attention from her
mishandling of one of South Korea’s
deadliest disasters in decades.
The country’s coast guard is a
nonmilitary agency and does not
patrol the maritime frontier with
North Korea, which is done by the
navy. Still, a move to abolish the
independent coast guard in a
peninsula country surprised many.
The agency has faced withering
criticism that it acted slowly and
unprofessionally in botched rescue
and search efforts. The April 16
sinking of the Sewol left more than
300 people dead or missing.
Park’s first televised address to the
nation since the sinking began with a
deep bow and ended with her
tearfully reading the names of
passengers and crew who died trying
to save others. With her approval
ratings plummeting ahead of the
mayoral and governor elections, the
speech sought to acknowledge
widespread anger over government
failures as well as chart a path
forward.
Most of the victims were students
from a high school near Seoul who
were travelling to the southern
tourist island of Jeju.
“We failed to rescue students who
we could have saved,” Park said. “The
ultimate responsibility for not
properly dealing with this incident is
mine.”
But Park also held the coast guard
responsible for the high death toll.
She called the coast guard’s rescue
work a failure and said swifter, more
aggressive action in the initial stages
of the sinking could have saved more
lives.
Park said she would push for
legislation aimed at transferring the
coast guard’s responsibilities to the
National Police Agency and a new
government safety agency that she
plans to establish. The new agency
would also take over maritime traffic
controlling responsibilities, currently
held by the Ocean Ministry, and
safety and security responsibilities,
held by the Ministry of Security and
Public Administration, and would
deal with both land and sea disasters,
she said.
Coast guard chief Kim Suk-kyoon
said his agency would humbly accept
Park’s decision and intensify efforts
to recover all missing ferry passen-
gers. More than six weeks after the
sinking, 286 bodies have been
COAST GUARD CRITICISM. South Korean coast guard officers try to rescue passengers
from the Sewol ferry as it sinks in the waters off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul,
South Korea, in this April 16, 2014 file photo. South Korea’s president has pledged to disband the
coast guard amid mounting criticism of its failure to save hundreds of passengers trapped in the
sinking ferry. (AP Photo/Yonhap, File)
retrieved but 18 others are missing. 1,000-ton-class ships or bigger
Some 172 people, including 22 of the vessels; and about 25 percent of its
top 67 officers have had less than one
ship’s 29 crew members, survived.
The immediate backlash from month of experience working on
Park’s rivals could signal a rough patrol ships, the coast guard said,
path for the proposals, which require confirming reports published by
lawmakers.
parliamentary approval.
Despite the criticism, Kim Woo-
“Disbanding the coast guard is an
extremely sensational, stunning Sook, a professor at Mokpo National
announcement, and it gives an Maritime University, said the coast
impression that Park is passing all guard shouldn’t solely take the
the responsibility to the coast guard,” biggest
responsibility
for
the
said Park Kwang-on, a spokesman for disaster. He said allegations that the
the main opposition party.
ferry set off with far more cargo than
The coast guard has been blamed it could safely carry and that crew
for a series of missteps during and members abandoned passengers in
after the sinking. Questions have need should also be equally
been raised about why its boats came considered as main factors.
late to the scene and why rescuers
Prosecutors last month indicted 15
didn’t enter the sinking ship to rescue crew
members
tasked
with
passengers trapped inside. The coast navigating the ship, four on homicide
guard has said that the ship was charges.
listing too far for officers to enter
The ship’s captain, Lee Joon-seok,
when they arrived.
initially told passengers to stay in
A senior coast guard officer dealing their cabins and took about half an
with relatives of missing passengers hour to issue an evacuation order, but
stepped down after he was found to it’s not known if his message was ever
have had close ties with the ferry’s de conveyed to passengers.
facto owners. Another officer was
The head of the ferry operator,
arrested for allegedly leaking Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd., and
confidential information that the four other company employees have
authorities would investigate regula- also been arrested. Authorities sus-
tors. The coast guard has also faced pect improper stowage and overload-
criticism for repeatedly correcting the ing of cargo may have contributed to
number of survivors and people the disaster.
aboard the ship.
During her speech, Park also said
The coast guard, founded in 1953, she would push for separate
at the close of the Korean War, only legislation aimed at rooting out
became an independent organization collusive and corrupt ties between
in 1996. It was previously part of the bureaucrats and civilian sectors,
country’s police agency. One big coast something seen by many as a reason
guard responsibility is dealing with for the sinking. Park said retired
Chinese
fishermen
illegally officials have a tradition of working at
operating in South Korean waters. the Korea Shipping Association,
The new agency would take over which oversees safety issues of ships.
those duties.
The disaster has prompted soul-
Eleven out of the 13 coast guard searching about the nation’s neglect
chiefs named since 1996 have been of safety as it built Asia’s fourth-
land-based police officers, not coast biggest economy from the ashes of the
guard officers; the top 14 current 1950-1953 Korean War.
coast guard officers have no
Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Jung-
experience working as captains for
yoon Choi in Seoul contributed to this report.
#14576
The Asian Reporter is published on the first & third Monday each month.
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