Captain in S Korea ferry disaster owns up to errors

Gwangju, South Korea

THE ship's captain at the heart of South Korea's ferry disaster acknowledged during his murder trial on Tuesday that he had erred in leaving an inexperienced crew member at the helm when the vessel capsized.

Testifying for the first time in court, Lee Joon Seok also denied allegations by some of the crew that he was playing games on his mobile phone when the 6,825-tonne Sewol ran into trouble. The passenger ferry capsized and sank on April 16, with the loss of more than 300 lives - most of them school pupils.