The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing about 300 people, most of them school children, apologized in court on Wednesday for his failure to rescue passengers in the country's worst maritime disaster for decades.
"I have committed a grave crime. I am sorry," Lee Joon-seok, the 68-year-old captain, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
Anger and grief gripped the nation after the disaster, and President Park Geun-hye's government was heavily criticized for what was seen as a botched rescue operation.