Classrooms that became lifeless from April 16, 2014
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Caricatures of the 250 victims hang in a tree with yellow ribbons ― a symbol commemorating those who died in the Sewol ferry disaster ― attached to each student’s picture to honor them. / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young
By Hong Dam-young
ANSAN, Gyeonggi Province -- It was as if time had stopped. No sound was heard inside the classrooms that were missing their students. Flowers and letters were piled on the rows of desks and chairs, instead of books and pens. The classrooms of Danwon High School students have been “lifeless” since April 16, 2014, the day Sewol ferry sank with the students into the dark blue sea during a school trip to Jeju Island.
It was a cold Wednesday morning, the third day after the temporary memorial space for Danwon High School’s second-grade students ― who made up most of the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster ― opened to public in an annex of the Ansan Office of Education in Danwon-gu, Ansan, in Gyeonggi Province.
Inside the building, 10 classrooms called “Memory Classrooms” keep the belongings of the victims ― 250 students 11 teachers ― preserved as they were before the disaster. This memorial space will be housed in the annex until moved to an official memorial park that will be built next to the high school by 2019, according to an official.
While visitors carefully walked around the classrooms, some gazed into photos of the victims with tearful eyes.
The father of a Sewol ferry disaster victim touches a paper crane on his son’s desk ― another visitor’s gift to honor the boy. Thirty-two students out of 34 in "class 7" died in the disaster. / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young
“Even after two years, anger and sadness still keep me up at night,” a father of a victim, surnamed Lee, told the Korea Times as he showed the reporter captured screens of the last messages his son sent him in from the sinking ferry.
He said he had never ceased going to rallies over the past two years to demand the government reveal the full truth behind the accident and take responsibility for the botched rescue operation. The bereaved families have been calling on the presidential office to reveal President Park Geun-hye’s whereabouts for seven hours while the ferry disaster was unfolding, but Cheong Wa Dae has never given them a clear explanation. They have just repeatedly been told she was in her office working.
“My son and the other victims could have survived, only if Park had given proper orders for a rescue operation at that crucial moment,” Lee said.
“I will never give up fighting for the truth of Park’s missing seven hours.”
His son was from “class 7.” Thirty-two of its 34 students did not return to their families.
Heo Su-yeon, a calligrapher, writes the names of 250 victims from Danwon High School on one of the walls on the second floor of the Ansan Office of Education. "I call every one of their names as I write them down,” Heo said. “This way I won't forget the victims." / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young
A mother of another victim from the same class said nothing could mend their broken hearts.
“We want Park to resign, for sure,” said the woman, who identified herself as the mother of Heo Jae-gwang. “But nothing can comfort us unless she brings our lost children back.
“I still feel like my son is with me every day,” she said tearfully.
“All I want is people to remember our children.”
The lifeless classrooms looked more forlorn when only a handful of visitors were left as closing time neared.