Remember “0416”

By Joel Lee

The 74 students of Ansan's Danwon High School who survived the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April returned to school on Wednesday, 71 days after the tragic accident that killed more than 300 people.

The students have been receiving counseling and psychological treatment aimed at reducing their trauma from the experience.

Wearing yellow bracelets that read, "Remember 0416," the date of the tragedy, the students arrived at school and were greeted by the parents of the students who died in the accident. The parents held up banners that read "Thank you really, really for coming back alive" and "We love you, be strong."

Parents of the students who survived stood on the other side. One student representative started reading a letter of plea written by the peers.

"We will remember and recollect our loved ones. Please sternly punish those responsible through thorough investigation," he said.

"Whether in good or bad will, please stop looking at us with sympathetic eyes." He added that even the psychological treatment was hard to bear.

The student couldn't continue as he broke into tears. A parent of one of the dead students finished the speech for him: "A person is truly dead when he is forgotten. I ask you all in sincerity one more time. Please do not forget Sewol April 16."

The students stood in front of their dead friends' parents and said, "Mother, Father, I will be back." The parents caressed and hugged them before sending them off to classes.

The students will continue to receive psychiatric treatment inside the school.

The mother of late Kim Hyun-jung, 17, who lost her life, wrote a letter to her daughter, which was published by Hankyoreh Shinmun:

"My pretty daughter with snaggleteeth, so pretty it won't hurt to put you in my eyes / Your dad teasing you for having stronger legs than golfer Park Se-ri / Your mother still can't believe you left on a long journey first.

"I think about you all day long but why can't I think that you're not here / Your room, desk, school uniform, everything is still the same / I think about you when I look at a wild flower in the corner of a park, when a wind gently blows it feels like you're beside me.

"I want to hear your voice that kept chattering after school / Your mother is sorry for everything, for enjoying the gentle breeze, the warm sunshine / My daughter who used to plug an earphone into my ear for good music, sorry for listening alone now.

"Sorry for eating alone, I'm supposed to wake you up in the morning and serve you breakfast / Sorry for not dressing you into summer school uniform that you asked me to iron before the trip.

"My blackened heart, looking for my daughter who isn't here, hurts so much."

Kim had a dream of becoming a Japanese language teacher following her teacher's footsteps, Yoo Nina, 28.

Yoo, who was on the 5th floor of the ferry where it was easier to escape, had gone down to the 4th floor to save her students. For her heroic act, she saved 10 students. Kim's body was discovered on April 21. Yoo's body was discovered on June 8.

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