By Ko Dong-hwan
President Park Geun-hye, usually as emotional as a rock, showed her tears on live television on Monday as she announced the disbanding of the coast guard over its botched rescue of passengers on the sunken Sewol ferry.
Families of the victims, however, weren't too impressed about Park, who was criticized in the accident's early aftermath for refusing to hold herself accountable for her government's supposed ineptitude.
The Sewol ferry sank off the waters of the southwestern island on April 16 with 476 people aboard, including hundreds of high school students. Only 172 of them were rescued with the remainder confirmed as dead or missing.
Critics have been accusing the government of bungling its emergency response and failing to properly enforce regulations that would have stopped the ship's operators from putting profit before safety.
Speaking to a MBC radio show on Tuesday, Yoo Kyung-eun, a spokesman for the "Emergency Family Committee for the Sewol Ferry Disaster,'' gave Park's speech 50 points on a scale of 100.
"The president did discuss some issues we have been trying to get out, but still lacked commitment in finding the missing bodies,'' he said.
Yoo also wondered whether announcing plans to dismantle the coast guard was smart when the coast guard continues to serve the key role in finding the bodies on the submerged ship.
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Families of the victims, however, weren't too impressed about Park, who was criticized in the accident's early aftermath for refusing to hold herself accountable for her government's supposed ineptitude.
The Sewol ferry sank off the waters of the southwestern island on April 16 with 476 people aboard, including hundreds of high school students. Only 172 of them were rescued with the remainder confirmed as dead or missing.
Critics have been accusing the government of bungling its emergency response and failing to properly enforce regulations that would have stopped the ship's operators from putting profit before safety.
Speaking to a MBC radio show on Tuesday, Yoo Kyung-eun, a spokesman for the "Emergency Family Committee for the Sewol Ferry Disaster,'' gave Park's speech 50 points on a scale of 100.
"The president did discuss some issues we have been trying to get out, but still lacked commitment in finding the missing bodies,'' he said.
Yoo also wondered whether announcing plans to dismantle the coast guard was smart when the coast guard continues to serve the key role in finding the bodies on the submerged ship.
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