"The ultimate responsibility for the poor response to this accident lies with me," Park said in a televised address to the nation, during which she wept openly and twice bowed deeply in a display of contrition.

Park's popularity ratings have been hammered by the April 16 disaster that claimed around 300 lives, most of them schoolchildren.

She has voiced regret several times, but Monday's address was the first time she has explicitly accepted direct responsibility for what has become a defining moment of her presidency.

"As the president responsible for the lives and safety of South Koreans, I offer my sincere apology for all the suffering," she said.

Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won resigned last month over the disaster, and while there have been few calls for Park to step down, she has been criticised for not displaying enough sympathy or remorse.

Towards the end of her 30-minute address, Park's voice choked with emotion and tears ran down her face as she described the heroic actions of some of the victims who died trying to save others.

She highlighted the failure of the coastguard's immediate response to the tragedy and acknowledged the complaints of the victims' relatives that many more lives might have been saved.

"I have decided to dismantle the coastguard," she said, adding that its roles would be split between the police and a newly created ministry of national safety.

The 6,825-tonne Sewol was carrying 476 people when it capsized and sank off the southern coast on April 16.

The confirmed death toll stands at 286, with 18 still unaccounted for.

Of those on board, 325 were children from a high school on an organised trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

The victims' families have been extremely critical of nearly every aspect of the government's handling of the disaster, with some taking their protests to the doors of the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Many relatives believe some children may have survived for hours or even days inside air pockets in the capsized ferry, but died because rescuers took too long to access the submerged vessel.

Families of those who still remain missing criticised the shock decision to disband the coastguard, calling it an ill-timed, hasty move that would further dim hopes to find bodies of their relatives.

"It is clear that (Park's) announcement will rattle coastguard officials and hamper ongoing search efforts," father of a missing teenager and the families' spokesman told reporters.

"We are in indescribable sorrow," he said, urging officials to continue search efforts "until the one last missing person is found."

'Act of murder'

Most of the ferry crew members escaped the vessel before it sank, and they have been vilified for abandoning hundreds of trapped passengers.

The Sewol's captain and three crew members were charged last week with manslaughter arising from gross negligence.

"The irresponsible acts of the captain and crew members who abandoned hundreds of people are practically an act of murder," Park said, adding that existing legislation would be amended to provide harsher penalties for officials found responsible for such accidents.

The Sewol tragedy has triggered a bout of intense soul-searching in a country that had, until now, taken enormous pride in its extraordinarily rapid transformation from a war-torn, impoverished backwater to Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Investigations into the disaster have suggested it was almost wholly man-made: the result of cut corners, regulatory violations, poor safety training and a woeful lack of oversight -- all, or nearly all, attributable to a desire to maximise profits.

"It is our duty to reform and transform the country so that these lives were not lost for nothing," Park said, pledging to address the corrupt culture of collusion between regulators and business.

That cozy, illicit relationship was to blame, initial investigations suggest, for the fact that the Sewol was carrying three times its cargo capacity when it capsized.

"I will stake my political life on correcting the wrong practices that have plagued our country for so long," she said.

South Korea is to hold key local elections in several weeks and Park's ruling Saenuri party is concerned about the political fallout from the ferry disaster.

該Se首爾 - 韓國總統樸槿惠帶著哭腔了週一的責任為上個月的Sewol渡輪災難處理不當，承認許多人的生命了不必要的損失，並聲稱要拆除的國家海岸警衛隊。

“對於這次事故反應冷淡的最終責任在於我，”帕克說在電視講話中向全國，在此期間，她公開和兩次哭泣中悔悟的顯示深深地鞠了一躬。

公園的民望已經敲定了4月16日的災難奪走大約300人，其中大部分學童。

她表示遺憾了好幾次，但週一的地址是她第一次明確地接受這已成為她的總統的一個決定性的時刻直接責任。

“作為負責任的生命和韓國的安全的總統，我提供我的真誠道歉為所有的苦難，”她說。

總理鄭雲燦洪元上個月辭職了災難，雖然有過幾次電話給公園下台，她一直被批評為不顯示足夠的同情或悔恨。

對她30分鐘的地址的末尾，公園的聲音哽咽著情感和淚水順著她的臉，她所描述的一些誰死試圖拯救他人受害者的英勇行為。

她強調了海岸警衛隊的慘劇即時響應的故障，並確認受害者的親屬有更多的生命可能已經保存了投訴。

“我已經決定拆除海岸警衛隊，”她補充說，它的角色，警察和國家安全的一個新創建的部委之間進行分割。

在6,825噸Sewol攜帶476人，當盤子傾覆，沉入了南部海岸4月16日。

已確認的死亡人數為286，與18下落不明。

那些在船上的，325是在一個有組織的旅行到濟州島南部的度假島從一所高中的孩子。

遇難者家屬一直非常關鍵的政府對災難的處理幾乎每一個方面，具有一定的採取他們抗議的總統府青瓦台在首爾的大門。

很多親戚認為有些孩子可能已經存活了裡面的氣泡在渡輪翻沉數小時甚至數天，但死了，因為救援人員花了太長時間來訪問淹沒船隻。

那些誰仍然失踪人員的家屬批評令人震驚的決定解散海岸警衛隊，稱這是一個不合時宜的，草率的舉動，這將進一步暗淡的希望找到自己的親人的屍體。

“很顯然，（公園）公佈將於嘎嘎海岸警衛隊官員和阻礙正在進行的搜索工作，”失踪的少年和家庭的發言人的父親告訴記者。

“我們是在難以形容的悲傷，”他說，要求官員繼續搜索工作“，直到最後一個失踪者被發現。”

“法謀殺”

大部分的渡輪船員逃出船前沉沒，並已詆毀放棄數百被困乘客。

wol的船長和三名船員在上週被指控因嚴重疏忽誤殺。

“船長和船員誰拋棄了數百人的不負責任的行為，實際上是謀殺行為，”帕克說，補充說，現行法例會被修訂，規定更嚴厲的懲罰官員找到負責該事故的發生。

該Sewol悲劇引發了強烈的自我反省的一個國家，有一個回合，到現在為止，在它從一個飽受戰爭蹂躪的，赤貧的窮鄉僻壤非常迅速轉型，以亞洲第四大經濟體採取了巨大的自豪感。

調查災難表明，它幾乎完全人為：中偷工減料，違規行為，惡劣的安全培訓和可悲的缺乏監督的結果 - 全部，或幾乎所有歸屬於一個願望，實現利潤最大化。

“這是我們在改革和改造國家，使這些生活並沒有失去什麼責任，”帕克說，承諾解決監管機構和官商勾結的腐敗文化。

這家舒適的不正當關係，無可厚非，初步調查表明，對於一個事實，即Sewol攜帶三倍貨運能力，當它沉沒。

“我會以我的上糾正了困擾我們的國家這麼久的錯誤做法的政治生活，”她說。

韓國舉行關鍵地方選舉在幾個星期和公園的執政Saenuri方為關心渡輪災難的政治後果。