Remembrance and Feeling: The Aftermath of the Sewol Ferry Disastser

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Source: NBC News
I was studying for an upcoming Calculus quiz when my roommate rushed into our dorm room, panting as she told me about the sinking of a ferry with 400 high school students on board. Shocked, I immediately turned my laptop on to look for the details of the incident. The Internet was already overflowing with the disaster—thousands of news articles, Facebook posts, tweets, and comments were broadcasting the situation in real time, all sincerely hoping for the safe return of the students. This hope soon turned into frustration as the government failed to implement effective, timely rescue measures, resulting in the deaths of more than 300 students and teachers. For a month or two after the incident, the South Korean public sharply criticized the government and the irresponsible crew. Eventually, a general consensus that such events should never take place in the future was reached, soon to be actualized through the Yellow Ribbon Campaign, designed to commemorate the victims of the Sewol Ferry Disaster,[1] and the enactment of special legislation that called for the establishment of an independent investigative council. Nonetheless, the fervor and trauma that engulfed South Korea at the time have greatly attenuated; the disaster is now “remembered,” no longer felt.

The current apathy towards the incident can mostly be attributed to the political clamor caused by the Sewol Ferry special legislation. The two main parties could not agree on the framework of the investigative council—the leading party only promised minimal authority and a short acting period, while the leading opposition strongly argued for a high level of investigative and accusative authority. This standstill was entangled with a rumor that the Ferry victims asked for special college admission along with other “special treatments,” leading to a negative public opinion towards the bill as a whole. As a result, it took 271 days for the South Korean government to pass the bill, its content considerably watered down from the initial proposal[2]—though the two parties claimed to have negotiated, the bill is almost identical to the proposal of the ruling party. In addition, the reason why the Ferry victims deserve such governmental treatment and offers of financial compensation still remains controversial. There have been accidents of even larger scale and with greater casualties, and although the government has been found partially accountable, the unprecedented introduction of special legislation seems like an unfair, overrated reaction to many South Koreans.

To make matters worse, social and political groups began to voice their interests in modifying specific clauses of the legislation, deepening the citizens’ aversion towards the now highly politicized incident. The opposition party to the sitting government has been criticized for exploiting the incident as a political tool to sway public opinion against the current administration. In response, grief has now given way to apathy as citizens now view the incident as a political issue. However, this mentality has left behind many issues that have yet to be resolved—various sectors of South Korean society greatly suffered from the incident, including students, teachers, residents of Jin Island (the location of the incident), as well as others who still call for appropriate redress and compensation.    

For students, especially high school students like myself, the event was traumatic. Just imagining the fear and despair our peers must have felt in the sinking ferry haunted us—many high school students displayed traumatized responses such as depression and mental stress at the time. Such annual trips are considered safe and almost routine in South Korean schools. Common experiences enabled students to associate themselves very closely to the incident, thinking that they also could have been the victims of such a disaster. Moreover, in response to a survey, 47.4% of high school and middle school teachers also stated that they were suffering from similar symptoms after the event.[3] Donations poured in from schools and individual students, conveying the magnitude of the empathy South Korean students and teachers had for those sacrificed in the incident. Given the extreme educational fervor in South Korea, many seem to have greatly felt for the students, their hard work fruitless in the face of a future that had now ceased to exist. 

Furthermore, the residents of Jin Island, the location of the incident, underwent severe challenges in their lives that went underrepresented in mainstream media. The closure of port Paeng-Mok deprived the fishing village of its main source of income as well as daily imported necessities.[4] The citizens of Jin Island used their own ships to carry the bereaved families in and out of the island, bearing the fuel expenses of 300 to 400 dollars per day themselves. However, such actions were neither compensated nor recognized, and even the government failed to address the situation of the residents until recently.[5] The government did claim to offer financial aid, yet the burden of proof lies on the citizens,[6] making it difficult for them to receive enough compensation to make up for their economic loss. 

On a larger scale, the incident swept through the nation as a whole, instilling insecurity, general distrust towards the government, and guilt that South Korean society failed to save lives that could have been saved. These negative sentiments have impacted South Korea in other aspects as well, challenging its international reputation as a “developed” country. However, the shock was also a positive catalyst in that it drew attention to the negligence of safety protocols in South Korea, and I personally hope that this shock can bring about progressive change in South Korea’s perception of safety.
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In a nutshell, one thing that we must all feel, not just remember, is that there are still ongoing issues that need to be properly addressed. The passage of the bill does not signify that the incident has now been perfectly resolved. Given that the legislation calls for the establishment of an investigative council, the disaster still needs to be examined and analyzed in its ethical and legal contexts. Whether the aftermath of the Sewol Ferry Disaster will be a powerful motivation for governmental reform or simply a jumble of murky events following a disastrous incident depends on the decision South Korean society makes: whether to merely remember it or to really feel it, to treat it as a situation in progress, respond to it, and act upon it.   

References:
[1] Jethro Mullen, “Ferry Disaster; Yellow Ribbons become symbol of hope, solidarity,” CNN, Septemper, 26th, 2015, accessed September 13th, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/world/asia/south-korea-yellow-ribbons/
[2] Thomas C. Fox, “Korean Parliament passes Sewol Ferry Bills,” National Catholic Reporter, November 8th, 2014, accessed September 24th, 2015, http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/korean-parliament-passes-sewol-ferry-bills
[3] Youngmin Choo, “일선 교사들 세월호 트라우마로 고통,” News 1 Korea, May 14, 2014, accessed September 13th, 2015, http://news1.kr/articles/?1675657
[4] Jaeyeon Woo, As South Korea’s Ferry Trauma Fades, an Island’s Pain Lingers, The Wall Street Journal, August 26th, 2014, accessed September 25th, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-south-koreas-ferry-trauma-fades-an-island-still-suffers-1409110866
[5] “참사, 생업 미루고 구조, 방제… 기름값 감당 역부족,” Yeonhap News, May 16th, 2014, accessed September 15th, 2015, http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2014/05/16/0200000000AKR20140516142500054.HTML?from=search
[6] Ibid.

So Yoon Lee is a freshman at Duke University.