The government on Thursday filed a suit against the operator of the sunken ferry Sewol demanding it reimburse the government the money for the compensation given to the victims.

The Ministry of Justice filed the lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court, demanding that Cheonghaejin Marine Co. and its 22 employees pay 187.8 billion won ($161 million) that the government had paid to compensate for the losses incurred by the ferry, which sank off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014.

The amount asked will increase if government spending on the incident increases, the ministry said.

The indemnity claim follows the recent decision by the nation's top court to uphold a life sentence for the captain of the sunken ferry for murdering 304 passengers aboard, mostly high school students on a school trip.

Prior to filing the suit, the ministry has taken measures for preservation of the company's property so that the company cannot siphon off the funds. So far, some 160 billion won of company assets has been seized provisionally, the ministry said.

The ministry is planning to file separate suits against the heirs of Yoo Byung-eun, former chairman of Semo Group, as well as to other partner companies who also held liable in causing the accident. Semo is the now-defunct predecessor of ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine Co. (Yonhap)