The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Tuesday it will appoint a civilian expert to lead the team searching of the wreck of the Sewol, after it came under fire for concealing the discovery of remains.
The team tasked with searching the wreckage of the Sewol ferry found a piece of bone from the ship on Nov. 17, but its chief told team members to keep the finding secret from the victims' families in a suspected attempt to put an early end to the search. The examination of the wreck has been going on since the vessel was raised in March.
The discovery came a day after the families of five victims who are still missing gave consent to halt the search. Ministry officials apparently feared that the finding could spark calls for the continuation of the operation.
The ministry's internal auditor said a DNA analysis showed that the bone belonged to a woman whose family held a funeral last month, after receiving part of her remains in May.
Ryu Jae-hyung, an internal auditor of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, speaks during a press briefing at the government complex in Sejong on Nov. 28, 2017. (Yonhap)
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