Ordinary criminal process ran beside extraordinary commissions.
English readers saw the commissions as “the inquiry.” Korean law distinguished them from the crew trial.
Agencies
- Korean prosecutors and courts — Charged and tried the crew; produced the 2014–15 homicide path to a life sentence.
- Joint police investigation — Mapped cargo, rebuild and the Chonghaejin network in the first months.
- Special Investigation Commission — Created under the 2014 Special Act to examine state as well as company failure; later politically contested.
- Korea Coast Guard / successor bodies — First responders and, after reform, the institution whose command decisions were themselves investigated.
What followed
- Rescue, then recover
The first day was framed as rescue. It became a recovery and identification operation within hours.
- Seize the company file
Load sheets, rebuild permits and owner links were pulled while the hull was still in the channel.
- Try the crew first
Prosecutors led with the people who had left the ship, not with the distant owner.
- Upgrade the charge
The 2015 appeal accepted homicide by wilful negligence rather than negligence alone.
- Legislate a special inquiry
The Special Act answered families who did not trust an ordinary ministry report.
- Lift the exhibit
The 2017 salvage treated the ship as evidence and as a promise to the still missing.
Turning points
- Stay-put audio — Once announcements were public, the crew’s departure could not be narrated as confusion alone.
- April 2015 homicide verdict — The appeals court changed the legal name of the captain’s crime.
- March 2017 lift — The raised hull closed the “ship still on the bottom” phase of Korean memory.
Investigation produced convictions. It did not produce a single uncontested map of every state omission.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.