Prime Minister Chung Hong-won is to stay at a police facility in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, from Friday to ensure sufficient state support for the rescue operations at the scene of the ferry disaster and improve inter-agency coordination.

The dispatch of a top government official came as the families of victims expressed their anger at what they called “insufficient” government assistance in rescuing nearly 300 people who died or went missing.

A day earlier, President Park Geun-hye visited the scene and pledged that the government would do whatever it could to rescue the missing passengers, mostly high-school students who were on a school trip to Jeju Island.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)