Prosecutors demanded the death penalty on Monday for the captain of the South Korean ferry that sank in April, branding him an unrepentant liar who abandoned more than 300 victims of the disaster.

They also sought life sentences for three senior crew members and prison terms of between 15 and 30 years for 11 others, as the trial of Captain Lee Joon-seok and his crew wound up in the southern city of Gwangju.

Lee, 69, "escaped the ship without making any efforts to rescue passengers", the prosecution team said in its sentencing recommendation to the court.