Sacheomwi Requests Special Prosecutor to National Assembly over Sewol Ferry DVR Manipulation and Editing Suspicion

On the morning of the 22nd, Park Byung-woo, Director of the Social Disaster Special Investigation Committee, announced the investigation results at the 'Special Prosecutor Request Press Conference on the Manipulation of Sewol Ferry Black Box CCTV' held at the Social Disaster Special Investigation Committee in Jung-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The Special Investigation Commission on Social Disasters (SICSD) has requested a special prosecutor investigation, citing suspicions that the Navy and the Coast Guard manipulated and edited CCTV evidence during the Sewol ferry disaster.

On the morning of the 22nd, SICSD held a press conference at Post Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, titled 'Request for Special Prosecutor Investigation Regarding Sewol CCTV DVR (Digital Video Recorder)' and stated, "As a result of investigating suspicions of manipulation of Sewol CCTV footage, it was confirmed that the CCTV restored video files submitted to the court at the time of the disaster were manipulated," adding, "SICSD will request the National Assembly to appoint a special prosecutor."

SICSD explained the reason for requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor to the National Assembly, saying, "Last March, we requested the prosecution to investigate suspicions of manipulation during the DVR collection process, but no investigation was conducted at all," and "We also provided related materials to the prosecution's special task force established last November, but no significant progress in the investigation has been identified so far."

SICSD believes that the Navy deliberately delayed collecting the DVR device, which functions as the ship's 'black box,' and also manipulated the stored data. Moon Ho-seung, a standing member of the SICSD Sewol Truth Investigation Subcommittee, said, "There were 64 CCTVs installed inside the Sewol ferry, and if the DVR, the video storage device, had been collected, the cause of the accident could have been easily identified," adding, "The Coast Guard officially collected the CCTV DVR only two months after the disaster, despite it being fundamental evidence for investigating the ship accident," asserting that the delayed collection of the DVR device was intentional.

Furthermore, SICSD's assessment is that the DVR device itself was manipulated. Park Byung-woo, director of the SICSD Sewol Disaster Truth Investigation Bureau, stated, "According to the DVR device data submitted to the Mokpo branch of the Gwangju District Court, unrelated data was copied and then 'overwritten,' causing errors when playing back footage after 8:46 a.m. on the day of the disaster," and added, "The overwritten data is believed to have been used intentionally by someone to cause data errors."

The Special Investigation Commission had previously launched an investigation due to inconsistencies between the testimonies of Navy and Coast Guard officials regarding the DVR collection process after the disaster, as well as suspicions arising from the attitudes of Coast Guard and Navy personnel immediately after the collection.