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| Members of the Korea Green Foundation make artwork in memory of the victims of the Sewol ferry sinking, and to wish for a safer society, at Seoul Square, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Jung Min-ho
Many Koreans remember distinctly where they were on April 16, 2014. They remember exactly what they were doing when they heard the news that the Sewol ferry carrying 476 passengers sank off the southwestern coast.
When the news broke, Roh Jang-ho, 30, was looking for an airplane ticket to Jeju Island, the boat's destination.
"I could have been on the ferry," he told The Korea Times. "I was going to take it to meet my friends there. But at the last minute, I changed my plan to take an airplane."
The tragedy killed 304 people, including 250 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.
"I sometimes imagine myself on the boat that day. I would probably have died, too," he said.
Ansan is Roh's hometown, the community most affected and angered by the government's poor handling of the incident. He said he knows two of the victims personally.
"I am furious that the government miserably failed to rescue them when they could," he said. "And yet, it isn't over. Many families of the victims are still suffering. I wonder what the government has done over the past year."
Citing a "memorial forest" that the son of late British actress Audrey Hepburn, Sean H. Ferrer, plans to plant on Jindo for the victims, Roh said that the government should do more for those who died because of its failures.
Kim Jung-mi, 31, was feeding her three-year-old son when she heard the news one year ago.
"Watching them dying was heartbreaking," Kim, now a mother of two children, said. "My eyes still get wet when I think about it. Some criticize the families of the victims for living in the past. But I understand the pain they feel."
She said that the government should show more respect for the victims and their heartbroken families, noting that salvaging the ferry is "the least" government should do for them no matter how expensive it is.
Following the disaster, Kim Hye-rin, who works at an international organization, underwent treatment for depression for a month.
"The tragedy affected my personal life," she said. "But another tragedy is that we largely wasted the opportunity to make our country a better place after many failures and weaknesses in our society were exposed."
But not everyone shares such feelings. Some said, over the past year, they are "tired" of what has become a political issue that divides the nation.
"I feel the families of the victims deserve to get compensation. But it's time to move on for everyone," a 56-year-old woman, who refused to be named, said. "President Park Geun-hye cannot and shouldn't be stuck on the issue forever."
Some said that the government "has done enough," claiming that salvaging the ferry isn't necessary because the recovery process is estimated to cost a whopping 620 billion won ($573 million).
Many memorial ceremonies are planned across the country on the first anniversary of Sewol ferry incident today. But aside from Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Yoo Ki-june, no ministerial level officials plan to attend any of them.
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