S Korea awaits verdict on Sewol ferry disaster

Gwangju, South Korea

THE defendants, 15 mostly middle-aged men, entered a courtroom last month and sat in two rows along a side wall. From the bench, three judges convened the 29th session of a trial to determine if they were guilty of mass murder and other crimes.

Lee Jun-seok, 69, captain of the Sewol ferry, which capsized in April, killing 304 people, sat in the first row gazing downward as the lead prosecutor asked that he be sentenced to death. "I am sorry," he said, his voice cracking. "With my crime, I deserve death."