Never Letting Go of Hope
By Oh Young-jin
City Editor
When each of the names of the 46 sailors listed missing after the ROK's Navy frigate, Cheonan, sank during a patrol duty near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), Friday night, is read, it will sting the collective hearts of the nation.
The country is in a state of shock in the aftermath of its worst peacetime disaster involving its sailors, still clinging to the ray of hope that some of them will be found alive.
The list is comprised of two seaman recruits; four seaman apprentices; four seamen; six petty officers third class; 15 petty officers second class; 12 petty officers first class; two senior petty officers and one master chief petty officer. The names were made public but this newspaper has decided to withhold them until their fates are confirmed.
All of them have their own story to tell. Some of them were fulfilling their mandatory military service, while others were professionals.
But there are a couple of common threads that tied them all together.
First, they were in their line of duty, protecting their homeland against possible threats from outside.
Second, they have their families, relatives and friends waiting against all odds for their safe return. Last but not least, the entire nation also has its collective fingers crossed to see them rescued alive.
If there are so many young souls on the verge of being given up for lost, it should not be taken as an excuse to ostracize 58 confirmed survivors.
The fifty-eight sailors, who have been saved from the disaster, including its skipper, Cmdr. Choi Won-il, should be taken as heroes, given the fact that they were also on the most sacred duty of defending the nation and that no incriminating evidence has been found against them.
But the nation owes both the survivors and those listed missing a few things.
It is imperative to get to the bottom of the case, determining beyond all doubts what caused the disaster.
Equally important is to follow it up with measures that ensure no recurrence of such an incident takes place.
There are few concrete pieces of evidence available as to discuss who should be held responsible or how things went awry but, with patience and determination, the country will surely be able to see this difficult situation through.
The nation owes that much to those young and experienced sailors who God forbid may not survive this disaster.