John Bacon

USA TODAY

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won resigned Sunday amid public outrage over the government's response to the sinking of the Sewol ferry, a tragedy that has left more than 300 people dead or missing.

"On behalf of the government, I want to apologize for a series of problems from preventive steps to the government's initial response and follow-up measures," he said in a Seoul news conference, as translated by The Korea Herald. "Witnessing the sorrows of those who lost their loved ones and sadness and anger of the people, I felt the right thing for me to do was to take all responsibility as the prime minister."

President Park Geun-hye's office said she would wait until the ferry recovery effort has been fully resolved before formally accepting Chung's resignation. A reshuffle of South Korea's Cabinet also was expected to be put on hold, the Herald reported.

Chung said rampant "corruption and malpractices" in Korean society contributed to the disaster and must be addressed. An investigation that began after the Sewol capsized April 16 has uncovered irregularities in management of the ferry's operator, Chonghaejin Marine — and revealed that efforts to save money might have resulted in the ferry being operated by an inexperienced crew.

The 6,825-ton Sewol sank en route to the tourist island of Jejudo with more than 470 people aboard, most of them high school students on a class trip. Authorities on and off the ship failed to grasp the gravity of the situation when the ferry first encountered trouble, and as the ship sank, those aboard were instructed to stay below deck.

Families of the victims have accused the government of failing to promptly funnel resources to the search-and-rescue operations as the breadth of the tragedy slowly came into focus.

All 15 crewmembers involved in navigating the ferry have been taken into custody while prosecutors and a government task force try to determine exactly what happened. Chung leads the task force and has been a target of heckling from angry relatives of the victims. Still, his position wields little power and his resignation is more symbolic than a sign of leadership change.

"As I saw grieving families suffering with the pain of losing their loved ones and the sadness and resentment of the public, I thought I should take all responsibility as prime minister," Chung said. "There have been so many varieties of irregularities that have continued in every corner of our society and practices that have gone wrong. I hope these deep-rooted evils get corrected this time and this kind of accident never happens again."

Prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said a crewmember called Chonghaejin Marine as the ferry was listing April 16 but declined to disclose whether the caller was the captain. Local media reported that the captain called for company approval of an evacuation. Yang said investigators are analyzing the content of communications between the ship and the company.

Divers have recovered 188 bodies, and 114 people are believed to be missing, though the government-wide emergency task force has said the ship's passengers list could be inaccurate. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crewmembers.

Capt. Lee Joon-seok told reporters after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for passengers' safety in the cold, swift water.

Yang said the cause of the sinking could be excessive veering, improper stowage of cargo, modifications made to the ship and tidal influence. He said investigators would determine the cause by consulting with experts and using simulations.

Prosecutors have seized documents from Jindo Vessel Traffic Services Center and Jeju Vessel Traffic Services Center, Yang said, and are analyzing messages, vessel tracking data, security camera recordings and other evidence.

Despite bad weather, dozens of divers continued to search for the missing, said Ko Myung-seok, a spokesman for the emergency task force.

Officials in charge of the search said divers had reached two large rooms where many bodies could be discovered. Students from Danwon High School in Ansan, near Seoul, make up more than 80% of the dead and missing.

"I just want to find my son's corpse. I want to see him one last time and hold a funeral for him," said Lim Hee-bin near his tent at Paengmok port in Jindo. "But the government search operation is too slow. It's total nonsense."

Lim said his son, Lim Hyun-jin, called him as the ship sank but the call was cut off. His son also sent him blurry and shaky photos showing his friends wearing orange life jackets and seated in a cabin.

"There are the last photos he sent me," Lim said. "These show they were in a dangerous situation."

Contributing: Associated Press