Thoughts from the disaster of the Sewol

By Jay Kim

As I watched the sight of crying parents longing for their young children lost in the disaster of the sunken ferry, Sewol to somehow come back, I could not help shed my own tears as if I lost my own son. Though I have seen many disastrous accidents, how in the world can there be such an accident that makes us feel the futility of life?

First, the captain’s actions were outrageous. I cannot understand how the captain, almost 70 years old, could escape from the ship first, leaving behind those 300 young students on the ship who were just 17 or 18 years old, about as old as his grandchildren if he had any. It’s no wonder that the foreign press called him the devil of the Sewol.

I am so ashamed that the crew boarded a lifeboat first abandoning the ship through their secret path, and that furthermore the captain, disguised as a passenger and covered in a blanket, was drying his wet money with fire.

Are these sane people? From what I hear, it is an international convention and especially a law in Korea for the captain of a ship to remain as the last person aboard to take care of passengers in danger.

Secondly, the owner of the company is a disgrace. Despite his wealth more than 300 billion won, he bought a 20-year-old worn-out Japanese ship and had it illegally modified to fit more passengers and cargo in order to make more money. It is like modifying the inside of a 20-year-old worn-out three-story building into 10-story high-riser and stacking heavy machinery on the top of the building.

Due to this senseless structural modification, the ship lost its balance. Furthermore, on the day of the accident, the ship was carrying cargo whose weight was four times over the regulation. How much more does the owner have to make, risking precious human life?

I am amazed at him, a rich man with wealth ― 300 billion won ― that he will not be able to spend until his death, causing this disaster to make more money. I also wonder who gave the permission for the modification and how much the person got as his share. There is no way in which such a modification could be permitted without any kickback.

Thirdly, people died by trusting the captain’s words for them to stay in their rooms waiting to be rescued. This makes me tremble with a thought that they could be alive if they had tried to find the way out on their own disregarding the captain’s words.

A report from CNN regretted that the traditional culture of obeying adults in our country made the children die. Since trusting and following the advice of adults led to this disaster, I can hardly say anymore as one.

It was really a pity to watch on TV the sight of tens of rescue ships surrounding the Sewol as if they were waiting for orders from their boss. Who was the person in total charge of the situation?

Furthermore, as con men use this disaster by claiming they can show the situation in detail with a fee paid through a mobile phone, the heartache of the anxious parents of the students worsened. That is not all. There was also an anti-American conspiracy story on the Internet that the Sewol was sunk by its collision with a U.S. submarine.

This disaster is a disgrace to our country, which reveals the corruption hidden so deep in our society. Those who are responsible for this disaster should be investigated thoroughly, regardless of who they are, and punished by the law.

There should neither be probation nor pardon for them. They should be punished severely so that this kind of disaster may not be repeated. It is about time to get rid of the practice of lessening punishment for the reason of the criminal’s “previous contributions to society’’ in Korea.

In Korea, there is the Central Disaster and Safety Headquarters in the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. But it is in fact a name-only entity without substance.

Thus there were more than 10 headquarters for this disaster, as the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the Coast Guard set up their own disaster headquarters.

It’s no wonder why they were running around confused. Now is the time that we need a unified control tower for disasters, like the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the U.S.

Jay Kim is a former U.S. congressman. He serves as chairman of the Kim Chang Joon U.S.-Korea Foundation. For more information, visit Kim’s website at www.jayckim.com.