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'My daughter was teacher, too'
Kim Sung-wook, father of the late Kim Cho-won, a former teacher at Danwon High School who died during the Sewol ferry tragedy, expresses his hope that his daughter, who was a non-regular teacher, will be honored equally with other regular teachers, during an interview near the memorial altar for the victims in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, on Aug. 22. Friday marks the 500th day since the accident. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Lee Kyung-min
Father struggles to lift non-regular teacher’s honor sunken with Sewol
By Lee Kyung-min
Kim Cho-won, 26, was a teacher at Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Every morning she started work at 7:30 a.m., and only came home at 11 p.m. after preparing for the next day’s class for her 39 students.
Although the long hours were demanding, she was excited to teach because it was her first job she loved after graduating from college.
Only one month after starting with the school, she was aboard the ill-fated ferry Sewol on what was intended to be a school trip to Jeju Island.
Soon after the ferry started sinking, Kim and other teachers on the fifth floor rushed to the fourth floor where the students were staying to help them put on their life vests. She was unable to make it off the ferry.
Kim was one of 11 teachers killed in the disaster that took place 500 days ago on April 16, 2014.
Of the nine teachers whose bodies were recovered, Kim and another teacher, Lee Ji-hye, were the only ones the government refused to recognize as having died while on duty because they were non-regular teachers.
Under the law, only teachers on the regular payroll are categorized as public servants, eligible for such recognition and government compensation, the Ministry of Personnel Management said.
The nine regular teachers were all remembered as those who sacrificed their lives to save students, and were buried at Seoul National Cemetery. The government pays their bereaved families 800,000 won per month.
Kim Sung-wook, the father of Kim, has fought to have his daughter’s death recognized the same as the regular teachers.
“What enrages me most is this,” Kim said. “Tell me, do you think my daughter, at the time of the sinking, refused to save the children with selfish thinking that ‘I’m only a non-regular teacher, so I if I die here, my death won’t be recognized. So I don’t care what happens to the students and I will only save myself’?” he said.
“I can say with certainty that my daughter was no less passionate than any of the nine regular teachers about teaching and taking care of her students.”
He said it is unfair to discriminate against her because she was a non-regular teacher.
“It disrespects my daughter’s love for her students.”
Since the ministry’s refusal, many people from all walks of life have supported the father’s struggle, saying the two other teachers should be treated the same as the regular teachers because they sacrificed themselves to help students.
The Korean Bar Association submitted a letter of opinion to the ministry backing the father’s claim; Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea also said that hard-working, qualified non-regular teachers should be guaranteed the same level of welfare or treatment in cases of accidents. Lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties filed a petition to demand equal compensation for Kim and Lee.
Despite such efforts, the government is reluctant to make a precedent. Of the 383,000 teachers nationwide, some 42,000, or 11 percent, hold non-regular status and recognizing Kim and Lee could mean greater burdens for the government in the future.
“This can only be solved through the President or prime minister’s own authority because changing related regulation is unlikely,” the father said.
Kim said he gets very angry when people make careless remarks such as: “Let it go. Stop holding onto it too much.”
“How can I stop? Nothing has been done so far,” he said.
The father recalls the daughter as a hard-working, good-hearted girl.
Surviving students later told him that on the ferry, they held a surprise birthday party for Kim as April 16 was her birthday. When her body was found, she was wearing earrings and a necklace the students gave as birthday present.
After Kim’s death, her family has fallen on hard times. The father, who was an executive at an electronics company, quit his job. He lost 10 kilograms in weight in less than a month after the incident.
He even tried to kill himself by hanging himself from a tree, but the branch broke. He said he and his wife are becoming more and more estranged.
He said honor is the only thing he wants, not money.
“I am not asking for money. All I’m asking is to honor my daughter’s death as a teacher _ a loving, caring teacher, not a non-regular teacher,” Kim said.