Ex-President Park Geun-hye's actions in the first seven hours of the 2014 ferry sinking, which left 304 dead or missing, have remained mostly undisclosed for over a decade.
But the Seoul High Court ruled Friday that the Presidential Archives had no grounds to keep the much-dispute record undisclosed, potentially paving the way for the related documents to be released to the public.
The ruling is the latest in a case brought by Song Ki-ho, a lawyer for the Lawyers for a Democratic Society at the time, in a 2017.
Song, who is now the presidential secretary for economic security, filed the case to reverse the Park administration's decision to designate Sewol documents as presidential records that cannot be disclosed.
The non-disclosure involved the documents made by the government on April 15, 2014, the day the ferry sank off the coast of South Jeolla Province, taking most of its passengers with it.
Song challenged the decision on grounds that there was a lack of clear grounds for the nondisclosure such as being a threat to national security.
After back-and-forth court rulings, the Supreme Court ordered in 2025 that the Sewol documents should be reviewed again. It rejected an earlier appellate ruling that said the records could not be disclosed as they had been archived in the presidential records.
The Presidential Archives can still challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court, but the decision was welcomed by the families of the tragedy victims.
Ryu Hyun-ah, an activist for the 416 Foundation established by the bereaved families, said it presented an opportunity to "open the door to the truth," with the 12-year anniversary of the tragedy approaching.
The sinking of the Sewol is one of the deadliest maritime disasters in the country's history. Many of the victims were high school students on their way to a field trip.
Then-President Park's office never explained why she only made a public appearance at around 5:15 p.m., over seven hours after she gave the first instructions related to the accident.
In 2018, prosecutors under her successor Moon Jae-in concluded that Park did no work at all on the morning of April 15, instead doing her hair and meeting with Choi Soon-sil, her civilian confidante and the person later found to have influenced Park on various state matters.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
