SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean National Assembly passed a bill on Friday initiating an independent investigation into the sinking of the ferry Sewol in April, which killed 304 people in a tragedy that traumatized and polarized the country.
The passing of the bill, together with two other bills engendered by the disaster, followed months of political bickering that has pitted President Park Geun-hye’s governing party against the victims’ families and the opposition parties that support them.
In May, when Ms. Park tearfully apologized for her government’s failure to prevent the disaster and for its bungling of rescue efforts, she endorsed a new independent inquiry that would supplement an investigation already undertaken by prosecutors. Ms. Park also promised to introduce bills to disband the coast guard and fight corporate and bureaucratic corruption that she said had helped create safety loopholes.
But talks on how to form an independent investigative commission proved highly divisive.
Victims’ families and opposition lawmakers demanded a panel that would have the right to subpoena and prosecute government officials, saying that the current investigations did not look broadly enough into the government’s failures. But the governing party and its conservative supporters resisted the demand, fearing that the opposition might use such a panel to launch political offensives against Ms. Park.
It was only in recent weeks that the rival parties worked out a compromise. The 17-member panel will not have subpoena and indictment powers, but its chairman will be selected from candidates recommended by the families. The families will also have veto power in selecting candidates for the special prosecutor, who will work in parallel with the commission and have subpoena and indictment powers.
The commission will operate for up to 18 months and the special prosecutor for up to six months.
On Friday, the National Assembly also passed a bill to create a national safety agency. The agency will absorb parts of the functions of the coast guard and national fire department, which will be disbanded in an effort to streamline the country’s emergency response system. Under the new law, the government will also create an agency to fight conflicts of interest involving government officials.
Also approved on Friday was a bill that will enable the government to more aggressively search for and confiscate assets owned by people responsible for disasters like the ferry sinking.
The 6,825-ton Sewol capsized off southwestern South Korea on April 16, while carrying twice as much cargo as legally allowed. The accident was one of the country’s worst peacetime disasters. The vast majority of the dead were students trapped in the dangerously listing vessel after its crew repeatedly urged them to stay put.
A court is scheduled to sentence the ship’s captain and 14 other crew members on Tuesday. Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty for the captain and for life imprisonment for three other senior crew members. The four have been charged with murder.
Separately, prosecutors on Thursday asked for four to 15 years in prison for 11 ferry and cargo company officials and shipping inspectors on embezzlement or accidental homicide charges stemming from the disaster.
Earlier this week, Yoo Dae-kyoon, the eldest son of the business mogul who controlled the company that ran the Sewol ferry, was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to three years in prison. The authorities accused members of the Yoo family of stealing the equivalent of millions of dollars from the ferry company, money they said could have been used for safety measures that were not put in place on the Sewol.
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