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The father of a teacher kept apologizing, sobbingly saying his dead daughter should have saved more students. Another father of a student was desperately fighting back his tears, saying he still feels his daughter is alive. The father of a surviving student burst into tears when he said some attempted to commit suicide from a sense of guilt that they alone survived.
It was the ongoing tragedy of the Sewol ferry sinking seen during a press conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul Tuesday. On April 16 a year ago, the ferry sank off the southwest coast, killing more than 300 passengers, most of them high school students on a class trip to Jeju Island.
"Even now, I feel my daughter, and our children, are still alive," Kim Jong-gi, the father of a girl who died at the disaster said. "We are on the streets because we must know why our children living for only 17-18 years have died. There is no other reason."
In the past year, many things happened. A number of regulators, ship inspectors and crew members were subject to criminal convictions. The prime minister stepped down, and the de-facto ferry owner was found dead while on the run. Safety regulations were revised, and laws were enacted to eradicate collusive ties between regulators and businessmen.
Family members of the victims and survivors still poured out a painful cry for help. On April 2, dozens of relatives of the victims shaved their heads in Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, calling for independent investigation into the ferry sinking. Thousands of people were sprayed with tear gas on April 11 when they attempted to march from the square to the presidential office for the same cause.
The only thing they want
"We have wanted only one thing. Getting to the bottom of the disaster and building a safe society based on that is what we want. This will heal our pain and make the deaths of the victims sacred and meaningful," Yoo Gyoung-geun, chair of the committee for families of the ferry disaster, told reporters. Yoo also lost her daughter in the incident.
The enforcement decree for a special committee to investigate the case, disclosed on March 27 by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, will hinder the fact-finding as it undermines independence of the committee, Yoo said. The executive order stipulated that public servants, the very subject to be investigated, are assigned to key positions of the investigative committee.
The decree also restricted the scope of the committee's investigation to the analyzing and reviewing of the results of the government's investigation, Yoo said. The restriction will actually make impossible an additional probe into insufficient parts after the official investigation as the families cannot participate in the official probe.
Ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers as well as the government helped create hostile public opinion toward families of the victims. The case in point was the government's announcement on April 1 of guideline on compensation and damages for the victims and their families. "All media outlets reported about compensation that could reach 400 million won (about 360,000 U.S. dollars), 800 million won or 1 billion won," said Yoo.
The announcement came just two days after the families launched a collective action calling for the scrapping of the decree, Yoo said. It helped form a public opinion that the families went on a rally to demand more monetary compensation, making their real demand for the fact-finding go unheard.
On April 8, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries disclosed fiscal costs, or taxpayers' money, associated with the ferry disaster, estimated at around 555 billion won (500 million U.S. dollars), including 120 billion won to salvage the sunken vessel.
Rep. Kim Jae-won of the ruling Saenuri Party added fuel to the atmosphere among some extremist conservatives that their tax money is being wasted, saying on Jan. 16 that those who were organizing the special committee for investigation into the ferry disaster must be "tax thieves" given the size of the committee.
After his remarks as well as other negative comments from the ruling party lawmakers, the staff number and the budget size were cut. Some Saenuri Party members likened the ferry disaster to a car accident, while others called the families of the victims a fractious child.
Last summer, dozens of members of an extremist conservative group ordered delivery food, including pizza, and ate the meal beside the victims' family members who camped out and fasted in Gwanghwamun Square. Pictures taken for the meal were distributed on the Internet, causing a righteous fury from the public.
Deepening distrust, pain
Amid the hostility caused by the political process, distrust and pain deepened among the families and survivors. Some of the surviving students attempted to kill themselves on a sense of guilt that they alone survived. Deeper scars were left with the teenagers' hearts by words carelessly blurted out that you may be lucky as you can receive benefits from the government like monetary compensation and special admission to colleges.
"Surviving students experienced hideous things, seeing friends fall off from the fourth floor high, buried under a vending machine and wiped out into the ship by waters," said Jang Dong-won, the father of a surviving student.
"As they are teenagers, they cannot continue to cry all the time, but if they laugh, people looked daggers at their back in school uniform. Some said to them that you are lucky as you will receive compensation and benefits in entering colleges."
Among 75 student survivors, 57 are undergoing psychotherapy twice a week. As April 16 approaches, the number of students hospitalized for the trauma increased sharply.
On board the ill-fated ferry Sewol were 476 passengers, among whom only 172 survived. A total of 246 students have been confirmed dead, with the bodies of four still missing. Among 14 teachers, 11 died, but two bodies remained unaccounted for. One teacher killed himself on a sense of guilt.
Excluding students and teachers, the bodies of three are still missing. They are called "ordinary passenger" victims to sort out them from student victims, reflecting less attention to them for the reason they belong to a minority group of victims.
The government response seemed to lack careful considerations for the minority groups. Many things have yet to be done to let the victims rest in peace and the families regain peace of mind.
"In our country, the president plays the most important role," said Kim Jong-gi, the father who lost her daughter.
"The president is like a parent to people, and the parent has a responsibility to protect her children. On May 19 a year ago, our president released a statement to the nation with tears in her eyes, and our families believed in her tears. We believed in her promises. One year has passed, but no promise has been kept."
President Park Geun-hye is scheduled to leave for Latin American nations in the afternoon on April 16, the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster. Her departure was brought forward by two days. "I can only say that we feel very regrettable, " said the chair of the victims' families committee.
