Around 50 mothers and fathers of victims of last year's South Korean ferry disaster had their heads shaved in central Seoul today, to push demands for an effective and genuinely independent inquiry.
With the first anniversary of the tragedy looming, the parents, including ten mothers, also called for the 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry to be brought to the surface where it sank off the southern island of Jindo on April 16 with the loss of more than 300 lives.
Ten at a time, the parents, wearing yellow, slogan-daubed barber's gowns, sat on plastic stools in the middle of the capital's main ceremonial thoroughfare.
Following months of political bickering, the South Korean parliament passed a bill in November initiating an independent investigation into the sinking.
The overloaded and unstable Sewol was carrying 476 people, most of them high school students on an organised trip, when it capsized.
The tragedy sparked nationwide grief and outrage as it became clear that regulatory failings, official incompetence and the ship's illegal redesign were the main causes.
On Wednesday the government announced it would start handing out compensation payments to the families of the victims, including around $380,000 for each of the 250 students who died.
"In the run up to the first anniversary of the tragedy, the priority for the government should not be monetary compensation but getting to the bottom of the incident, salvaging the wreckage and finding the last missing persons," they said in a statement.
More than 50 people have been put on trial on charges linked to the sinking, including 15 crew members who were among the first to climb into lifeboats.
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