South Korea News

It's been a week of tragedy for the community of Ansan, an industrial town near Seoul.

The vice principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of his pupils on what turned out to be a disastrous ferry trip has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 268 missing passengers alive.

The following is a portion of the transcript released Sunday by the South Korean coast guard of the conversation between the ferry that sank Wednesday and the Jindo Vessel Traffic Services Center on Jindo island.

It is a decision that has maritime experts stumped and is at odds with standard procedure: Why were the passengers of the doomed South Korean ferry told to stay in their rooms rather than climb on deck? Evacuations can be chaotic and dangerous, and an important principle in maritime circles is that even a damaged ship may be the best lifeboat.

In a last terrified, tearful call to his elder sister, 16-year-old Kim Dong Hyup promised to get off the sinking ferry alive.

A South Korean cargo ship engulfed in fire Saturday in the Pacific Ocean off Japan's Wakayama prefecture.

Police officers stand guard outside a tent acting as a temporary morgue for victims of the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol at the port of Jindo on Saturday.

In West Islip closed due to accident on The Southern St Pkwy WB between Robert Moses Causeway/X40 and before Rt-231/Deer Park Ave/X39 in North Babylon.

The number of confirmed dead rose to 32 when three bodies were found in the murky water near the ferry.

Lee Joon-seok, third from left, the captain of the ferry Sewol that sank off South Korea, and two crew members prepare to leave a court which issued their arrest warrant in Mokpo, south of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 19, 2014.

South Korean rescue team members search for passengers aboard a ferry sinking off South Korea's southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea, on April 17, 2014.

THE family of a soldier killed in the 'Forgotten War' will finally get to pay their respects at his grave in South Korea more than six decades after his death.

Investigators on Saturday arrested the captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized three days ago with 476 people on board, as divers finally accessed the submerged vessel and spotted what they believed to be bodies.

Hillary Clinton Wants You to Know That She Faces Very 'Hard Choices,' Like, For Instance, Running for President in 2016 The tragedy in Mokpo, South Korea , where a ferry carrying 475 people, including more than 300 high-school students, capsized on Wednesday, is ongoing.

Kang Min-Kyu, 52, who is believed to have hanged himself in shame after surviving the ferry disaster - more than 300 teachers and students were on board.

The captain of the South Korean ferry that sank with hundreds of high school students aboard is under criminal investigation for his actions, but it's not clear whether he broke any laws by being one of the first people off the crippled boat.

Following is the transcript released by the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries of the conversation between Jeju Vessel Traffic Services Center on Jeju Island and The Sewol, the ferry that sank on Wednesday.

Investigations into South Korea's ferry disaster focused on the sharp turn it took just before it started listing and on the possibility that a quicker evacuation order by the captain could have saved lives, officials said Friday, as rescuers scrambled to find some 270 people still missing and feared dead.

The mayor of Kingston has sent out a message of support to South Koreans in the borough after a ferry sank in the region.

"Hosting this could help us promote the country's image and position. However if the hosting is not properly and successfully prepared, it will have the opposite effect," the statement said.