"I didn't think much of it at the time." "I thought it was inappropriate, but I had no choice." These words were repeated by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries civil servants who appeared as witnesses in the trial of misfeasance in interrupting the investigation by the Special Committee for the Investigation of the April 16 Sewol Accident (hereafter “special committee”). They personally drew up documents interfering with the investigation of the special committee and put the documents into practice according to instructions from Cheong Wa Dae. Public officials may refuse illegal orders from their supervisors.

However, not one refused the instructions from Cheong Wa Dae. Cheong Wa Dae took advantage of the silent civil servants. The civil servants allowed Cheong Wa Dae to take advantage of them.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun analyzed the information from the trial on the interference of the investigation of the special committee recorded by the Lawyers for a Democratic Society task force (TF). In February and March, 2018, the Prosecution Service indicted three former ministers and vice ministers of oceans and fisheries including former Cheong Wa Dae Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun, who served under President Park Geun-hye, for abuse of authority. The civil servants in the oceans ministry who received instructions from these senior officials and helped interrupt the investigation were exonerated because they were subject to the abuse of authority. However, just because they escaped punishment does not mean that their actions can be justified. The public officials in the oceans ministry were another "accomplice."

■ Senior public officials who received an indulgence

The scene was courtroom number 301 at the Seoul Eastern District Court, where a trial of misfeasance in interrupting the investigation by the special committee was held on November 29, 2018. Lee Cheol-jo, the director of the Busan Port Construction Office (a grade-2 official) stepped up as a witness. Lee served as the deputy head of a team overseeing the salvaging of the ferry hull, and later as the head of follow-up measures concerning the Sewol from May 2015 to November 2017. In November 2017, he took responsibility for the late and concealed report on the remains of the missing victims of the Sewol and resigned.

The civil servants at the oceans ministry testified that they reported a considerable portion of the details concerning the attempts to interrupt the investigation to Lee. The words Lee spoke most often throughout the trial were "I don't know," and "I don't remember."

When asked about how the document on measures to interrupt the special committee investigation came to be written, Lee answered, "I don't know," or "I didn't do it." When asked about the missing victims mentioned in the document titled, "Response Measures on Issues Related to the Special Committee" he answered, "I don't know." The judges asked, "How can you not know when you were in charge of salvaging the ferry?"

Lee was consistent in his ambiguous attitude throughout his testimony. When the attorney of Yun Hak-bae, former Cheong Wa Dae secretary for oceans and fisheries asked, "You said that looking into the activities of the special committee was an order from Cheong Wa Dae, so you had no choice and that you didn't think much of it. Does this mean that you thought it was illegal?" Lee answered, "Yes." When the lawyer asked again, "That you had no choice because it was an order from Cheong Wa Dae and the fact that you thought it illegal, aren't these contradictory?" Lee did not answer.

Yeon Yeong-jin, former director of ocean policies at the oceans ministry (a grade-1 official) is a key figure in the interruption of the investigation. Yeon served as an advisor in the Saenuri Party and the director of the salvaging project, and later served as the head of the Korean Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion under the oceans ministry in November 2016. In December 2017, he resigned just before the Prosecution Service's investigation on interference with the special committee's investigation.

The officials at the oceans ministry testified that they took on the task of interrupting the investigation, executed the orders and reported the results after receiving instructions from Yeon. When giving instructions to interfere with the investigation Yeon said something like, "You seem to feel burdened by it, but since we (oceans ministry) are the main ministry overseeing this issue, it is right for us to do it," (testimony by Yun Du-han, former manager of planning in the salvaging team). In court, Yeon testified, "We made voluntary efforts (led by the minister and deputy ministers) so that the special committee's investigation of Cheong Wa Dae's whereabouts would not pass, according to the wishes of those at the top (Cheong Wa Dae)."

The text messages released in the trial show a process that starts with Yeon giving the instruction, leads to a subordinate official (report), then returns back to Yeon (report) and the minister or vice ministers. Yeon sent a text message to Yoo Ki-joon, the minister of oceans and fisheries at the time that read, "We provided materials mostly to the daily newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo reporter and also consulted him a lot." He also obtained confidential results of a meeting by the executive members of the group representing the victim families of the Sewol accident and attached the file. All the information was obtained by or created by the working-level officials in the oceans ministry.

■ "The orders came from the top, so I had no choice."

On January 25, 2015, a group chatroom was opened on Viber, upon orders from Yun Hak-bae, a Cheong Wa Dae secretary at the time. All fourteen people in the chatroom were from the oceans ministry and were involved in Sewol-related tasks. They monitored the activities of the special committee and made daily reports on Viber. The Viber chatroom disappeared in November 2015 when the document, "Response Measures to Issues Related to the Special Committee" was released to the public.

Park Seung-ki, a former oceans ministry official who was a Saenuri Party advisor (grade-2) at the time, said in the Viber chatroom, "The (oceans) ministry should keep its blade nice and sharp." He meant that the ministry should work to reduce the budget of the special committee.

Im Hyeon-taek, who was in charge of supporting the special committee at the time (dispatched from the oceans ministry), answered, "Our ministry, the interior ministry and the foreign ministry should all come together as one." Park is currently the chairman of the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation under the oceans ministry.

Im was busy sharing information on the special committee. Yun, Yeon and the senior officials praised him in the chatroom. In court, Im said, "It (following unlawful orders) was a shameful thing, but I did not think that it was illegal. I lacked judgment."

The oceans ministry officials all argued in the trial that they had tried hard to do their jobs. Jeong, who was dispatched to the special committee said, "As the head of general affairs, I tried to be faithful to my position," when speaking of the reports on the special committee activities to the oceans ministry.

As for delivering the reports on the special committee to the police, he also testified, "We delivered them because the intelligence officers usually requested them."

Yun Du-han testified, "The executive branch did not think it was appropriate for the members of the special committee recommended by the ruling party to write a statement," in connection to the document on the response to issues concerning the special committee. At the same time, when the lawyer asked, "Didn't you think it was wrong for the entire oceans ministry, which made policy decisions, to engage in an illegal activity?" he answered, "The staff on the oceans ministry team overseeing the salvaging operations of the Sewol all tried to work hard in that situation." During the trial it was revealed that Yun was reluctant to use his own e-mail account and had used an e-mail account of another employee.

According to the Public Official Code of Conduct, a public official can refuse to follow instructions when "the supervisor significantly damages the fair performance of the job for unfair benefits to another party." "When being forced to perform an unfair task for a politician or political party," the public official must report to the head of her agency or consult with the official in charge of the code of conduct and handle the issue accordingly. However, not a single official from the oceans ministry involved in interfering with the special committee investigation followed the Public Official Code of Conduct.

The defendants took advantage of the silence by the oceans ministry officials to argue their innocence. The people receiving instructions did not refuse to follow them and did not think them illegal, so they argue that it is difficult to see this as misfeasance. The lawyers asked the public officials who appeared as witnesses, "Why were the charges dropped, when you did all this (activities interfering with the investigation)?" and "Didn't you think that it was not illegal at the time?" The public officials answered, "I could not judge whether or not it was illegal" (Yun Du-han), "I felt uncomfortable rather than think it was illegal" (Jeong, an official from the Sewol follow-up measure TF), and "There was no illegal activity in the process of allocating the budget" (Kim Nam-gyu, former manager).

"I dreamt of the bereaved families swearing at me. I experienced the trauma of having the dead students appear in my dreams."

This was the statement and testimony by Jeon, an official from the Sewol follow-up measures TF. Jeon is the official who received instructions from his supervisors and drew up and reported the documents "A Special Investigation of the Sewol Special Committee Is Needed," and "Response Measures on Issues Related to the Sewol Special Committee." It was a belated regret. Just like his colleagues at the oceans ministry, he also said in court, "I had no choice since it was an instruction from my supervisor."