Korea ferry captain jailed for 36 years, acquitted of murder in disaster

Gwangju, South Korea

THE captain of the South Korean ferry that sank in April with the loss of more than 300 lives was jailed for 36 years on Tuesday, but acquitted of murdering those who died in the disaster.

In a ruling that followed five months of dramatic, often painful testimony, a three-judge court said prosecutors, who had demanded the death penalty, failed to prove Captain Lee Jun-Seok, 69, had acted with an intention to kill.