President Moon Jae-in offered an emotional apology Wednesday for the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry that took place long before he came into office, also pledging to get to the bottom of the incident that he said was partly caused by a government failure.

Moon's apology on behalf of the government came at a meeting with some 200 victims of the 2014 sinking and their families at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

"Even now, the people do not know why such an absurd accident took place, why the government was so incompetent and irresponsible in dealing with the accident after it took place, and what Cheong Wa Dae was doing while so many children were dying. We do not know why (the former government) tried so hard to avoid and ignore fact-finding and why it took so much time to recover the ship,"

Moon said, according to Cheong Wa Dae pool reports.

"One thing for sure is that the government, no matter what the cause was, failed to prevent the tragedy. Though belated, I offer my apology and condolences on behalf of the government," he added.

The president also vowed to find answers to questions he cited.

"Finding the truth behind the Sewol incident is important to help relieve the deep sorrow of victims and their families, but it is also a necessary step for us to learn a lesson to build a safer nation where such a tragedy will never recur. I promise the government will do its utmost with the National Assembly under such a belief to find the truth," Moon told the meeting.

The promise comes amid repeated calls from the victims and their families to launch a second fact-finding probe by an independent committee, insisting the first investigation under the former conservative administration had been biased from the very start.

Moon agreed, noting the former government may have even sought to hinder the efforts of the first fact-finding mission.

"The government even showed a cold side by avoiding and blocking efforts to find the truth, which was its duty," he said.

The president also promised efforts to find each of the five people who remain missing more than three years after the ferry sank in waters off the country's southwestern coast on April 16, 2014.

A total of 309 people, mostly high school students, died or went missing in the tragic sinking. (Yonhap)