Time to overcome grief and rebuild 'safer Korea'
One month has passed since the ferry Sewol sank off the southwestern coast. Frustration, anger and grief has gripped the nation during the painful period.
Expectations for rescuing most of the passengers have been completely shattered. The Coast Guard failed to save even a single passenger trapped inside the sinking vessel.
The worst maritime disaster in decades, which took more than 300 lives, mostly high school students, laid bare almost all problems inherent in our society: decades-old collusive ties between government ministries and their affiliated agencies; lax safety management; bureaucrats' outright incompetence; and irresponsible media reporting.
What's most heartbreaking is that the innocent students stayed put as they were told and didn't try to escape the doomed ship. And there are still many questions unanswered.
Why did the captain and crew members abandon the ferry so quickly without even telling passengers to escape as if they wished to increase the death toll? Why didn't the Coast Guard let its rescuers break into the cabins where hundreds of passengers were trapped during the crucial first two hours?
All these doubts raise the desperate need for law enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of the sinking tragedy and find out those responsible no matter how long it takes.
Prosecutors on Thursday brought negligent homicide charges against Captain Lee Joon-seok and three other crew members for being the first to scramble to safety while hundreds of passengers remained trapped in the sinking vessel. The harsh charges seem justified given that they reneged on their basic duties and that their proper actions could have saved many more lives.
President Park Geun-hye will soon offer an apology ― the fifth since the ferry sinking ― and unveil her blueprint for making Korea a safer place in which to live, and addressing all entrenched problems in society that led to the deadly calamity. Simultaneously, there will be a broad-based Cabinet reshuffle that includes the prime minister.
True, people's trust in the government has all but disappeared, so it will be close to impossible to ease popular sentiment with familiar stopgap measures that come out whenever big calamities hit the nation. What's needed now is her sincere and broad-minded leadership.
It's our sincere hope that the Sewol tragedy will serve as a catalyst for President Park to change her top-down governance style. Specifically, she needs to put an end to her revolving-door appointments and improve her communication skills. The upcoming Cabinet shakeup will be the most opportune time for the nation's head of state to demonstrate her willingness to recruit talented people even from the opposition camp.
With more than 20 people still missing, divers are risking their lives to conduct search operations, but this might be the time to move toward salvaging the sunken ferry.
And the time has come for us to overcome this grief and join forces to create a "safe Korea.'' That would be one way to honor the memory of those lost in the Sewol disaster.
One month has passed since the ferry Sewol sank off the southwestern coast. Frustration, anger and grief has gripped the nation during the painful period.
Expectations for rescuing most of the passengers have been completely shattered. The Coast Guard failed to save even a single passenger trapped inside the sinking vessel.
The worst maritime disaster in decades, which took more than 300 lives, mostly high school students, laid bare almost all problems inherent in our society: decades-old collusive ties between government ministries and their affiliated agencies; lax safety management; bureaucrats' outright incompetence; and irresponsible media reporting.
What's most heartbreaking is that the innocent students stayed put as they were told and didn't try to escape the doomed ship. And there are still many questions unanswered.
Why did the captain and crew members abandon the ferry so quickly without even telling passengers to escape as if they wished to increase the death toll? Why didn't the Coast Guard let its rescuers break into the cabins where hundreds of passengers were trapped during the crucial first two hours?
All these doubts raise the desperate need for law enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of the sinking tragedy and find out those responsible no matter how long it takes.
Prosecutors on Thursday brought negligent homicide charges against Captain Lee Joon-seok and three other crew members for being the first to scramble to safety while hundreds of passengers remained trapped in the sinking vessel. The harsh charges seem justified given that they reneged on their basic duties and that their proper actions could have saved many more lives.
President Park Geun-hye will soon offer an apology ― the fifth since the ferry sinking ― and unveil her blueprint for making Korea a safer place in which to live, and addressing all entrenched problems in society that led to the deadly calamity. Simultaneously, there will be a broad-based Cabinet reshuffle that includes the prime minister.
True, people's trust in the government has all but disappeared, so it will be close to impossible to ease popular sentiment with familiar stopgap measures that come out whenever big calamities hit the nation. What's needed now is her sincere and broad-minded leadership.
It's our sincere hope that the Sewol tragedy will serve as a catalyst for President Park to change her top-down governance style. Specifically, she needs to put an end to her revolving-door appointments and improve her communication skills. The upcoming Cabinet shakeup will be the most opportune time for the nation's head of state to demonstrate her willingness to recruit talented people even from the opposition camp.
With more than 20 people still missing, divers are risking their lives to conduct search operations, but this might be the time to move toward salvaging the sunken ferry.
And the time has come for us to overcome this grief and join forces to create a "safe Korea.'' That would be one way to honor the memory of those lost in the Sewol disaster.
