Tragic wake-up call from Sewol

By Kim Ji-soo

It’s hard to watch the news since April 16. But then again, it’s also hard not to watch the news when approximately 200 people remain missing from the 6,825-ton ferry Sewol in the waters off Jindo Island, South Jeolla Province.

The nation is fully tuned in to the continuing news about the sunken ferry that had 476 passengers, including 325 11th-graders from Danwon High School, onboard. Some, like this reporter, have been shedding tears every now and then because there are so many beautiful innocent lives unaccounted for. One could just imagine the joy and freedom that the students must have felt as they set out on the field trip. Some said that they don’t watch the news on purpose because it’s heartbreaking. At times, it was hard not to place oneself in the passengers’ shoes because of the enormity of the tragedy and the enormity of the human error.

One of the first questions that sprang to this writer’s mind was, “Would I have listened to the broadcast from the bridge? Or would I have tried to escape despite those instructions?” I don’t know the answer to that for sure, even now, but I might have obeyed. One initial video of the desperate rescue scene recorded by a man who escaped was released showing the level of water rising in a closed space on the ferry as people started saying, “Oh, no.” And immediately one had to wonder, what would I do or what would I be thinking if that amount of water came my way? When family members cried out, one could not help but think: “What if it was my child?”

Everyone at every level ― the captain, some of the crewmembers, the ferry inspectors that oversaw the operation of the old ship, the post-accident search-and-rescue personnel, the press and even the rumormongers ― have blundered to create this man-made disaster that the Sewol’s sinking has become.

Shock, grief, and confusion have given way to anger as more pieces of the puzzle as to what happened have emerged. Running strongly underneath these emotions is an indelibly uncomfortable sense a long-running problem has finally caught up with Korea.

For so long, Korea has prided itself on striving to achieve goals, headlong. In the process, a Korean tendency to “overlook” a few things in pursuit of the more important goal worked effectively at times, if not efficiently. The goals came at the expense of social costs ― whether that be lives, humanity, love or respect for others.

But against the bigger picture of a flourishing economy and culture ― with its white-hot sales of cell phones and K-pop ― the chic and modern Korea seemed to have learned that these social “expenses” are “values” that must be championed. More people seemed aware that rules and principles must be respected and were working at it.

The seeming efforts just did not suffice, and Korea has known accidents before ― the deadly sinking of the ferry Seohae in 1993, the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in 1996 ― that showed that it has not learned anything. That is in public and personal lives, an ingrained practice of respecting and following the law is what is needed for a person to make a morally right choice under pressure. If you are used to cutting corners, should a fatal moment arise where you would have to make the right choice in a split-second, it will elude you no matter what.

In the confusion and shock in the capsizing and sinking of the ferry Sewol, that moral choice seems to have eluded the captain. Consequently, it left his crew in disarray and a large number of passengers missing.

One sign of hope is that the nation almost came to a halt as people offered prayers and condolences. Volunteers have been pouring into Paengmok Port in Jindo, offering relief goods and support. Prominent figures and celebrities have come forth with donations to help the search and rescue operations and the families of the victims.

Let these warm hearts that lend help to the needy also help forge a stronger and more rational society whose people understand that each law-respecting action is another step toward a better future.