[16][17][18] Around 82% of the Sewol's casualties were children and out of the 172 survivors, more than half were rescued by fishing boats and other commercial vessels that arrived at the scene approximately 40 minutes before the Korea Coast Guard (KCG).

[28] As part of a government campaign to manage public sentiment over the official response to the sinking, an arrest warrant was issued for Yoo Byung-eun (described as the owner of Chonghaejin Marine), but he could not be found despite a nationwide manhunt.

The VTS retracted the warning around 8:35 p.m., and the Shipping Association removed the restriction on Sewol's departure after checking the weather conditions with the operator of the Palmido lighthouse and consulting with the KCG.

When Sewol arrived at the channel at 8:27 a.m. at a course of around 137 degrees, the wind speed was between 4–7 metres per second (8–14 kn; 14–25 km/h), the wave height about 0.5 meters (1 ft 8 in), and the visibility good.

[31]: 40  Immediately after giving the order, she heard Cho exclaim, "The wheel isn't working" in a flustered voice, after which the ship started listing.

[86] During this time, Park was crying, as she was startled by the sudden incident; this lasted until at least 9:06 a.m.[80][87] With the engines off, Sewol became unable to change directions and began drifting sideways.

"[127] South Korean outlets such as JoongAng Ilbo, Maeil Broadcasting Network, and JTBC later made corrections and apologies concerning their earlier reports.

[134] Passengers who had reached the deck or jumped into the water were rescued, including Captain Lee, but rescuers could not get inside the ship due to the list.

[142] As of 10:03 p.m., the following units were involved in rescue operations: Naval forces include sailors from the 3rd Fleet (제3함대; 第三艦隊), a Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship, a Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class destroyer, and an Ulsan-class frigate.

[163] On 17 July, a firefighting helicopter returning from rescue operations crashed near an apartment complex, killing all five officers aboard and injuring a high school student.

[164][165] The government announced on 22 April 2015 that it had approved plans to salvage the wreckage of Sewol in hopes of finding more information about the sinking and recovering the bodies of nine victims still missing.

[199] The combination of the lack of ballast water and excess cargo meant that the center of gravity on the Sewol was too high for safe operation and the amount of force needed to capsize the ship was reduced to a dangerously low level.

While most media correctly identified the vessel as a fishing boat, a few have concluded this to be a military submarine of South Korean, Japanese, American, French, or Israeli origin.

[214] Lee had abandoned Sewol with passengers still aboard the ferry, while South Korean law explicitly requires captains to remain on the ship during a disaster.

[28] Three crew members, Park Ji-young, Jeong Hyun-seon, and Kim Ki-woong, were credited by survivors with staying aboard the ferry to help passengers escape.

[229] Amongst fifteen crew accused of the sinking, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Captain Lee under the charge of homicide for failing to carry out his duty.

Thirteen other crew members were given jail sentences of up to twenty years imprisonment on charges including abandonment and violating maritime law.

"[230] In the cases against officials over the overloading of cargo, Kim Han-sik, Chonghaejin's chief executive, was found guilty of negligence and received a ten-year prison term.

In this way, Park Geun-hye's Blue House distorted the victims' demands, aggravated social conflict, and even hindered comprehensive fact-finding investigation efforts aimed to improve future disaster response capabilities and enact special laws.

The Blue House used the Yoo Byung-eun investigation and arrest operation as a trump card to deflect the government's responsibility for the Sewol Ferry disaster and to shift the blame onto the shipowner.

The report makes no mention of investigating the sinking, salvaging the hull, or supporting the victims' families, instead devoted to determining ways to "control the protesting attempt by the opposition forces in the name of the ferry accident and suggest a method about public opinion manipulation using the government-organized demonstrations.

[236] Tatsuya Kato, a Japanese journalist, was indicted on charges of defamation for reporting that Park had responded to the disaster by meeting with fringe religious leader Choi Soon-sil.

The Defense Security Command argued that monitoring civilians in Geumsuwon, as well as collecting vast amounts of personal information on members of the Evangelical Baptist Church (Salvation Sect) were considered legitimate "administrative support."

[246] Two British filmmakers that were living in South Korea during the tragedy, Neil George and Matthew Root, created the documentary After the Sewol, which was released in several forms between 2016 and 2020.

The film uses interviews with survivors, emergency response workers, and family members of the victims along with news coverage to create a study about the conflicting reports about disaster.

[247] A separate short documentary In the Absence was created to showcase the disaster in real time, with audio, visual and multi-media messages and video from the victims.

A prominent South Korean politician from the ruling Saenuri Party, Chung Mong-joon, was forced to apologize when his son wrote a controversial Facebook post attacking the public for criticizing Park's government over the disaster.

[253] Many parents of the victims expressed deep anger at the government, ranging from reportedly berating South Korean Prime Minister Jung Hong-won,[254] to shouting at President Park,[255] to staging protests at the Blue House, partly inflamed by a reported remark by a senior news editor at the government-funded Korean Broadcasting System that the number of dead was "not many, compared with the number of people killed in traffic crashes each year.

[275] Kang had organized the field trip that had brought the high school party aboard Sewol and had written in his two-page suicide note, which was found in his wallet by police: "Surviving alone is too painful when 200 lives are unaccounted for ...

[283][284][285] On 17 April 2015, a day after the first anniversary of the sinking, 4,475 participants holding electronic candles formed the shape of the Sewol ferry at the commemoration event titled 'The Saddest Challenge in the World' in front of Seoul City Hall.