A South Korean coast guard official was relieved of his duties yesterday for thoughtless comments he made to the families of the Sewol ferry disaster.

“Is there anything the Coast Guard couldn't do? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to rescue 80 people?” said the official in the southwestern port city of Mokpo.

Prior to it, a senior government official handed in his resignation after he tried to take a commemorative group photo in front of families of the victims.

The latest move showed that mistakes of public officials could worsen the public sentiment over the government’s handling of the tragedy.

By Um Yoon-sun (uys@heraldcorp.com)