Upside Down
Family? You mean who live here?
I,
Seongbin's mom, Gaeul,
and Seongbin.
Goun is, first child. my eldest daughter.
My eldest son's birth weight was 3.2kg and younger one was 3.3kg.
I lost my parents at an early age.
And it is a custom that a woman visits her family to give birth to her child.
As my in-laws live in Changwon,
both of my sons were born in Samsung Changwon Hospital.
Dayeong was born on July 14, 1997.
She was born when summer reaches peak heat.
I have four brothers
and Dayeong has no aunt on the father's side.
And it was a girl!
I called my mother, who lived in Anyang,
from a pay phone and told her my daughter was born.
She just rushed over to the hospital to celebrate.
I like mountain climbing,
and I told you that my wife is 7 years younger than me.
Ah... My wife's gonna be mad at me if she knows I tell you this.
She'd had a crush on me. I mean really.
I know how I look now,
but I was a total chick magnet.
So, ah... this is top secret.
We went to Juwang Mountain and Seho was conceived there.
So his fetus nickname was "Juwang."
I had a very auspicious conception dream.
A scallop shell opened just
like the Birth of Venus.
I told people about my dream
and they said it's a conception dream.
A goddess was born from a giant scallop.
That's way Seongbin is pretty.
She was a baby with big appetite
and smiled and laughed a lot.
As a baby, she was very active.
When I got home late, Dayeong waited for me
and showed me kindergarten dances and songs.
As I was drunk, I just reclined
and paid little attention, saying, "yeah, you are very good."
But she did her best for the performance.
This guy was so generous that always treated friends.
Hamburgers or whatever.
Other guys chip in, but Seho liked to treat friends.
Whenever he got some money,
he treated as many as twenty to thirty hamburgers for friends.
Do you mean he was unstinting?
Not really. He just liked friends so much.
Seho had lots of friends.
He was popular among peers.
Others say their adolescent kids don't want to talk to dad.
But that wasn't the case with me and my girl.
Seongbin liked to sit close to me when studying.
Except for school hours, she was always with me.
She would always be with me
unless she had special schedule
like hanging out with friends.
What did Dayeong want to be when she grew up?
Her dream had changed occasionally.
Recently, she wanted to be a doctor.
However, as math class got more challenging from 11th grade,
she agonized over what to do.
I guess she lost confidence
due to the fierce competition
for entrance into premedical course.
"Dad, I'm gonna choose a visual major.
I think that's right for me."
So I said OK.
Once, she had won a silver prize,
with the User-Created Content video that
she shot with the classmates, in a contest.
When she was in elementary school, she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.
In middle school, until 8th grade, she had not been a remarkable student.
However, from 8th grade, she ranked at the top of the school.
Then, she said she wanted to be a diplomat or a judge.
She stuck to her dreams.
I told you, I hold a cook license.
On Sundays, you know, it's impossible on week days,
but on Sunday, I cook breakfast for family.
I'm no kidding.
My boys complained about mom's food.
Cooking is a daily routine for mom,
but when I have to cook once in a while, I do it right.
"Ah... Mom is no match for dad."
I was sorry for my wife, so I added
"Hey, you know what? I am a cook license holder."
And my son said, "yeah, I know that."
Then we laughed out loud.
It wasn't a big deal,
but I loved cooking whatever my kids wanted.
I guess Seho developed his passion for cooking from dad.
I don't think so...
but I can't rule out that it was my influence, huh?
Seho liked to assist me when I was cooking.
Right, that makes sense.
Now that I think about it, I'm not sure but it could be.
It's heartbreaking to think about school excursion.
I run my own business and recently I had financial difficulties.
When talking about this and that,
my wife told Goun that
we can't afford to pay for you to go on a school excursion.
At work, I received her text message.
"Dad, I want to go on a school excursion
but mom says I can't.
Is it true?"
So I answered, "What are you talking about?
Daddy can pay for the school excursion, of course.
You will go on a school trip
and don't worry about it."
She spread clothes all over here.
If she had had a big sister, her sister could have checked out them.
So, Seongbin made video calls to her friends to talk about her outfits,
asking "What do you think? How do I look?"
She did it for three days, or even for a week.
Dayeong was born in 1997 and she lived for about 18 years.
The Korean society changed a lot in her lifetime.
In 1998, the Asian Financial Crisis took place
and since 2003, infectious diseases like SARS and bird flu have prevailed.
Due to the outbreak of these illnesses,
kids could not go on school trips when they were younger.
When Seho was in elementary school,
the school excursion planned to Gyeongju was cancelled,
because of swine flu.
How they wanted to go on a school excursion this time!
Nothing special.
I just said "Bon voyage!" in the morning of the previous day.
When school was over they went to Incheon to get on board.
On the day, I just said a pleasant journey.
If I had known that it would be the last time,
I would not have done so.
In the morning, no, in the evening of the day,
Seongbin sent a text message to her mom
that the ship was docked at the port because it was foggy.
My wife asked whether she took travel sickness pills.
After a long pause, my wife received Seongbin's reply that she took them.
Then, she sent messages that now she would go,
as the fog had dispersed and it was possible to sail.
That was all.
"Hey, your daddy is missing you.
I know that you are having fun with your friends now,
but I told you that you should text me on your departure.
Is it a pleasant voyage?
But I'm a bit sulking with you."
The message I sent became the last one.
His last words were...you know,
we had no idea it'd be the end...
he said "I'll be back soon."
Precisely, "I'll be back soon, dad. See you."
...any marine accident, marine criminal...
Thank you for calling, the coast guard situation room.
119 here,
did you pick up the phone call from the ferry to Jeju Island from Incheon?
Ah, you mean the Sewol ferry? I got the phone.
Where are you now?
119 situation room. -119, OK
We've got a report that the vessel is tilted
and now many passengers are drowning
Passengers are drowning?
Yes.
How many passengers are in the water? one?
As of now, many are in the water, according to the distress call.
It seems that many students are on board for school trip.
Right after morning meeting,
when I went back to my office to start the day,
the chief director who is responsible for the whole broadcasting schedule came to my desk
and said a ship that students were on board went aground and tilted.
I asked him about the kind of the vessel
and he answered, "it might be a big car ferry."
In the morning of the day,
when I turned on the computer in the office, I saw the new titles,
Ferry Began to Sink off Coast of Jindo..
I was struck by the thought that "Dayeong set off yesterday
and now the vessel would be around Jindo."
So I followed the breaking news reports.
Then, Danwon High School was mentioned in the articles.
I thought something went wrong.
Hello, it's 119 situation room here.
They are students from Danwon High School of Ansan city,
I mean the passengers.
My colleagues asked me if my son was a Danwon High student.
I said yes, and their reaction was "Oh, my god."
Why? I asked.
Now the vessel is sinking off the coast of Jindo, they said,
isn't it the vessel that your son is on board?
I shouted, "It makes no sense.
Such a huge vessel cannot capsize."
Even the weather was fine on the day.
Hello, 119.
Hello, Mokpo Coast Guard here.
We received a report that a ferry,
of which the name is Sewol,
is now sinking near Byeongpung Island of Jindo.
My wife received a phone call at 8:45 from Seho.
He said "The ship is a bit tilted, but..."
Then he told that all the students had to assemble,
and hung up.
Everybody says they were ordered to stay put. Stay in the cabin.
Teachers told so and students just followed.
Do you know what I mean?
If I told him "Just anyhow get out of there, don't mind whatever teacher says.
Get out with your teacher right now,"
he would survive. It was never too late.
My kid got out of the cabin at 8:35
and took pictures for three minutes.
He went back to the cabin as ordered.
And he died.
I even have the pictures he took on the deck.
If they noticed that the vessel would sink
and predicted that the passengers,
in particular, young students,
would die if they were left in the vessel,
it would be a murder.
In order to prove them guilty of murder, there should be willful negligence in their act,
like the attitude that it would be OK even if the passengers die.
They said stay put.
If we move, the ship would sink.
Stay put, unless the ship will sink? -Right.
The crew members had enough time before the escape.
They conspired and changed back into civilian clothes.
If they were in sailor suit, the Coast Guard would not rescue them,
as they were obliged to remain on the ship.
Actually, more than 2 hours were left
from capsize to sinking.
The time was enough for passengers to escape.
They had not to waste the time.
Two hours from the initial distress call
is kind of the best golden time.
During the time, as many as 19 calls
were made between 119 rescue
unit and the Coast Guard,
from 8:58 to 11:00, on April 16.
Hello?
yeah, I know that.
But the officials from the Ministry of Health
and Welfare and from other government agencies are coming.
As they can't approach Seogeochado island,
the high-ranking officials will go to Paengmok harbor in Jindo.
What can we do?
High-ranking officials are coming.
Whether powerful figures come to Seogeochado island or Paengmok harbor
is none of our business.
Isn't it our priority to rescue as many as possible?
Of course you're right, but...
Officials of the Ministry of Health and Welfare,
the former Ministry of Security
and Public Administration, the Jeonnam Fire Service,
and local authorities
All visited Paengmok harbor
and more than 2 hours, the rescue operations had to be suspended.
For these two hours,
the vessel was in the jurisdiction of Jindo Vessel Traffic Service VTS
but no counteraction was made.
A student dialled
and the Coast Guard wasted time by asking nonsense questions.
The operation had to be swift
but they were late as there was no helicopter available.
The scuba divers and diving equipment weren't sufficient
and the operation team was reluctant to put civilian expert divers in operation.
The navy divers were not dispatched.
In total, the number of divers was too small.
News reports aired headline captions of
all Danwon High students rescued!
At that time, all information came from the police
and we saw other broadcasting company aired that all rescued, with bold headlines.
We thought we had to broadcast the same coverage.
In about 10 minutes, the news of saving all students turned to be false.
We reported a huge incorrect news.
If the government is giving out misinformation,
that says something about their ability to have a plan in place
for handling disaster and information.
Is the number of passengers 324?
As of now, we count them to be 450, but...
I see...
But, not so sure
You know, I think, the rush to get information out there,
sometimes supersedes giving out right, which is a wrong thing to do,
sure are the part of journalists
or people giving out the information.
The sinking of the vessel was a natural disaster.
But if no one was rescued in operation,
it is a man-made calamity.
Then, people realize the inability of the government
and that the national system does not save the people's lives.
Hah...
When the parents, including me,
got on the bus to get to the coast, we could not say a word, stricken with despair.
We imagined an extreme, worst scenario,
however, at the back of mind, we hoped
"My kid would be alive."
Certainly he/she was rescued.
What about the death toll?
The ship went down.
Hello?
Yeah, the ship went down now.
Is it entirely submerged?
Is it sunk?
Yes.
Uhm...so...
How much has the rescue operation done?
No, not everyone could escape.
You mean there are casualties?
Yes, it is predicted that there are deaths.
I applied for rescue operations
and asked when I could be involved in the operations.
They just said no one was sure when it would be.
They rejected civilian participation
due to the issue of responsibility that would arise in case of an accident.
So we suggested that
we will sign up the agreement concerning exemption and verify the divers,
by using all possible means,
such as checking their certificates, or whatever.
I carefully prepared to conduct rescue operations as an individual diver.
I brought extra breathing apparatus,
just in case survivors are in the vessel, in the isolated pockets of air.
People talked about the air pocket, or void,
so we had a glimpse of hope.
If there are air pockets, we thought, it would be better to supply oxygen into the void.
At that time, they talked about air pockets
and my wife asked,
As Seho learned how to swim, he can get out of there, right?
This made my heart broken.
I could not tell her "It's over now."
I knew that, but I couldn't tell her for 3 days.
What if the air pockets do exist...
what if...
The news media coverage was very abuzz with the titles like
more than 500, including civilian divers, are on standby.
But actually, the atmosphere at Paengmok harbor
was quite different from what the news reported.
It turned out that the coast guards did not conduct any rescue activities
in the early stage of the accident,
however, at that time, it was reported that
they are passionately committed in rescue operations,
lighting hundreds of flares.
A reporter asked a rescued students
if he knew his friends died,
and the other media outlet reported on how much the insurance payout was supposed to be,
while the operation is still held.
Usually, when an accident takes place,
volunteers join the rescue headquarters in the order of arrival.
Following the directions, they conduct operations.
But this time, unfortunately, the headquarters blocked the civilians.
No one delivered messages to the parents.
They had to hear the death of their beloved ones from TV news reports or phone calls.
When they heard the tragic news on TV or by telephone,
they let out a sob, breaking the silence of gymnasium.
The others remained in silence and just guessed someone received sad news...
In the disastrous situation,
there is an urgency to get as much information as possible,
as quickly as possible, right?
On the other hand,
one of the first things people do in this disaster
is to want to talk to victims, or the survivors,
or family members of people who've died, or seriously injured.
So that goes hand in hand.
It rarely is possible to only focus on what happened
without talking to the people impacted.
I don't think I've ever seen that.
Please take someone who can give us the answer! Please!
It is a matter of common sense
that the parents in Jindo gymnasium should be the first ones who hear the operation news.
And there should be a personnel in charge of controlling news
from external sources.
But the media was the first ones
and the parents had no choice but to helplessly wait for news.
It stirred up anger of the parents.
At first, I thought
How come they want to visit Blue House?
The bereaved families were blockaded by ten police buses,
when they headed for the presidential office.
I got the news via real-time SNS
and realized that something went definitely wrong.
I didn't eat anything and on the third day,
my brother and brother-in-law received a food tray from volunteers and gave it to me,
saying, "You never skip meal."
They said I have to eat well and keep the steam up to find Dayeong.
So I tried to eat for the first time in three days...
beef soup and rice.
When I was about to eat,
Dayeong was found...
On the next day, the news report told that Seongbin Park was found dead.
As far as I remember, it was around 7 in the morning.
But I'm not sure, families lost the notion of time,
as we did not sleep at all.
I heard the news of my daughter and went to the headquarter.
But it turned out to be incorrect.
Her body was recovered on the seventh day,
7: 49 in the morning.
She was...
like... clean like she just died.
The corpse was not seriously damaged.
On April 22. It was around 7:50 in the morning.
I was so confused that all girls looked like my daughter.
All looked like my daughter and I kind of fell into disorder then.
I thought, "What's the distinct feature of my daughter? Long hair?"
I was out of my mind.
She came back on 29,
April 29.
They skipped the number 197 and just dealt with 198.
I just stared, and knew that it was a girl. Number 197 was a girl.
They told that she wore a hoodie.
I had a hunch that it would be my daughter.
It was my gut feeling that my daughter came back.
It was strange to feel it.
In 19 to 20 days, he was found afloat.
The condition of his body was well-preserved and clean than other kids,
except for face stained from being exposed to the surface.
He was an exemplar student
and never hovered in underwear.
Luckily, Seho's body was not damaged seriously
that we could clean and dress the deceased boy together, crying.
She was just like a sleeping baby.
Goun looked peaceful,
but I saw her hands and fingernails.
Her mom doesn't know about this, as I kept it secret.
Goun's all fingernails were black with bruise.
I was lost for words.
On May 15, I took the students to an essay contest
in Olympic Park.
There, I met a middle school teacher from Ansan.
He was clutching the school yearbook to him and said,
most kids in the book were gone now.
They graduated from middle school and entered Danwon High, and then...
I imagined of the pictures
of the dead students painted in black.
Indeed,
they were killed.
I say so because the dying scene was broadcasted live.
They could not rescue even a single student.
The scene that students buried at sea was aired on TV.
And we had to watch the scene via many TV channels.
Why did the capsize happened? What's the reason?
One of the possible scenarios is that
the ship was stuck on a rock and it ripped a hole in the hull.
Water flowed into the vessel through the hole. Then, it was capsized and finally sunk.
The other scenario is that
a sharp turn was made and the ship canted.
The restoring force was lessened and the ferry capsized and then sank.
A vessel does not capsize so fast.
If we think about why did the ferry capsize that fast,
without any evidence or assumption,
the possible cause will be the ship was stranded and it left a big hole in the hull.
But the fishermen said there are no submerged rocks
and there is so much mud in the sea water.
Then, what's the real cause of this accident?
For some reason, the vessel canted.
Let's assume that the cause was veering.
Usually, when a sudden, sharp turn was made,
the ship will strike a balance again by restoring force.
People didn't think of the possibility of the ferry's overloading.
Worse yet, the interior structure of the vessel was quite dangerous
because of the excessive renovation, leaving the overloading issue aside.
People believed that
the crew members were experts, at least.
A complicated, engineered system
has its factor of safety,
which describes the capacity of a system beyond the expected loads or actual loads.
Even if the system can tolerate the force of 100,
the additional margin needs to be considered for safety.
The safety factor is taken into account for the relevant regulation of Korea.
So even if a vessel is loaded slightly more cargos than the regulation, it won't capsize.
The safety factor is set up,
considering various uncertainties from nature,
such as wave, wind, and others.
The safety was given the top priority,
of course, and the economic feasibility is also considered.
If this is renovated, nothing can be better.
When building a ship, the optimal conditions are realized.
If the structure of the ship is modified after the building,
it will be a change for worse,
in particular, in terms of safety.
The ship was extended and the extension raised the center of gravity.
Regarding this, I watched and read various testimonies from the media,
for example, the ship rocked
from side to side before sailing,
even when it was anchored at the dock, in the wind.
It shows the lack of restoring force,
if the vessel rolled and pitched heavily.
If the ship was stable enough,
it would be restored.
But when the stability is compromised,
the vessel cannot be restored from tilted position
and will capsize.
Even if the force of listing caused by a sudden veering
was the same with other vessels, Sewol would list slightly more than others.
The impact will be bigger when the fist is pulled,
compared to the motionless situation.
So, we assume that when the vessel listed and then bounced back, to make matters worse,
the lashing devices were loosened and the ship turned upside down.
We conducted two experiments to prove this hypothesis.
When all the weights were tied up in the vessel,
it did not capsize despite yawing.
In the second experiment, we used cylindrical weights.
When we tied the weights to the ship, we put the brakes on sub-motor;
and we didn't loosen the lash, we realized the brakes.
Then the model vessel canted and turned upside down,
according to our qualitative experiment.
In case of ferry like Sewol, in particular,
heavy cargos,
such as beverage for passengers and fuel,
are loaded at the bottom
of the hull on departure.
During sailing, these beverage and fuel will decrease.
Then, "ballast" water should be loaded.
The ballast water is for nothing.
Even if the water is discharged from the vessel,
it will not make any profits.
It is actually a dead cargo.
However, the ballast water needs to be loaded for the safety and restoring force of vessel.
Although there are regulations on loading ballast water,
the operators emptied it
in order to compensate
for the overloading of cargos and passengers
that bring about profits.
They carelessly thought that
it would be OK
despite the serious rocking of the ferry.
I think the cause of the disaster was that
the vessel was overloaded with cars and passengers.
In my opinion, the worker in charge of safety inspection might know about the problem.
And the workers at the shipyard for the ship's renovation might know that,
the extension would deal a heavy blow to the restoring force of the ship.
Everybody knew that, but nobody could tell.
Different from land traffic,
vessels do not have any traffic jam and it takes always the same time to make a voyage.
The income from sailing
differs depending on the amount of loaded cargo.
Therefore, if the sailors abide by the regulation on cargo loading and number of passengers,
considering the restoring force and safety,
the revenue will decrease.
It is the first officer's duty
to lash down the cargos tightly in the vessel.
However, it requires time, equipment,
workforce, and money to tie down them.
The first officer must keep the ship at bay
when the cargos are poorly held,
but he couldn't,
as his company would earn less
if the vessel could not depart on time.
The captain of the ferry had a telephone communication
with the Cheonghaejin Marine Company for 28 minutes.
I was disappointed
at the news reports on the phone call
because it is reported that they just talked about the insurance coverage,
the cargos, and the plan to cover up the overloading;
they didn't talked about
how urgent the 300 passengers and their surrounding situation was.
Cheonghaejin tried to reduce the cargo
so that the overloading would be concealed.
When the high-ranking officials retire
from the government agencies that have the supervision authority,
they are employed as executives, or chief directors,
of various groups that are directly connected to shipping companies.
This creates connections between regulating body
and regulated institutions.
They just turn a blind eye to the wrongdoing with each other.
The seafarers act and the ship safety act have very light rules of punishment.
Mostly fines
and penalties under 2 million KRW.
Even in case of the violation of captain's duty to stay in ship,
the penalty will be under 5 million KRW.
In case of loose lashing, penalty under 2 million KRW,
in case of excessive number of passengers, which is critical, and violation of load-line mark,
which refers to the legal limit to which a ship may be loaded
in order to safely maintain buoyancy,
the violator will be sentenced to only a year.
It's just a slap on the wrist.
People found it OK
to violate the regulations.
Then, they repeated the violations.
No one stopped them.
The complacency was prevailing in our society.
The followers tend to move
in accordance with the behavior of leader,
depending on the role that the leader plays.
In other words, a leader plays a crucial role for an organization.
In the case of Sewol, the captain ignored
the safety of passengers to sustain his life
and a tacit agreement existed between the captain and crewmen.
We can't even imagine that a captain of the ferry that accommodates hundreds of passengers
is an irregular, temporary worker.
It doesn't make sense.
They hired irregular workers not to pay retirement grants,
up to salary for 30 days,
when a crewman has worked for more than a year.
So, the company employed temporary workers on short-term contract basis.
The number of Sewol's irregular workers was 15, about 50 percent.
More shockingly, it turned out recently that part timers were not listed.
There were four more part times.
In total, the number of crewmen was 33,
including temporary part timers, and the number of irregular workers stood at 19,
approximately 60%,
as revealed in the investigation held by the National Assembly.
The head of the Coast Guard was replaced with the launch of the incumbent government.
Not only the head,
but also the high-ranking officials of the body have never been a captain
because they were former land policemen.
The administration does not cultivate experts.
Job rotation system is used at the government,
out of concerns about staying in an easy position for a long time.
Most officials have to leave their position once in a while
and no official can build specialty.
At least, those who have experience of disasters should be put in the positions
that make decision in disastrous emergencies.
But this is not the case.
The government system is not for fostering experts.
The state exists to serve and protect the people's lives and safety.
This should be given the top priority.
But the Coast Guard, a governmental agency
that was obliged to protect the lives and safety of Koreans,
failed to carry out its responsibility.
Given that it is a governmental organization,
it is no exaggeration to say that the state failed in fulfilling its obligations.
When the truth comes out,
the people demand more actions than they would have, otherwise.
And sometimes the government exaggerates its response,
to try to calm the people.
For example, it might disband the entire Coast Guard.
If the response initially had been better,
you might not have seen the Coast Guard disbanded.
That just seems to me to be a way to calm very angry people.
They would disband school, if the school violence were to be rampant.
This is exactly in the same context with disbandment of the Coast Guard.
However, it isn't true that the school trip triggered the disaster.
This is the same old story in the Korean education system.
When faced with a problem,
the authorities say it will be addressed
when an additional subject is established,
such as vocation, safety, and software.
It seems that they regard the existing subjects to be useless.
The curriculum of public education should embrace
all the necessary content. That's the basic idea of public education.
Even if a subject for safety is introduced,
no one will study as the grade of the subject
isn't required for college entrance.
There certainly is a reason that
this kind of man-made tragedies,
such as the collapse of Sampoong Department Store in 1995
and the Daegu subway fire in 2003.
Earlier this year, lots of college students were killed
by the collapse of Mauna Ocean Resort.
This kind of accidents occur continuously, and everything happens for a reason.
I frequently take a day-off from work and get early leaves.
I can't focus on work.
I can't get the accident out of my head,
even in the workplace.
I had run a business with a partner for more than 20 years.
Suddenly, the accident took place
and I had to leave the office often for the Sewol issue.
One day, my partner told me that he would do it alone,
just unilaterally.
At the bottom of this psychology is the feelings of guilt that
they could not protect the beloved ones.
This leads them to do their best to find truth.
The exert efforts for honor and reputation of their family's death.
Due to financial difficulties,
she wasn't brought up in affluence.
I wish I had raised her up in affluent circumstances.
I'm so sorry that
I could not spend lots of time with my daughter
because I was busy.
You know, if your kid doesn't get good grades,
it does not necessarily mean that you don't have to support her.
Both top students and slow students require parents' support.
That's the role of parent. But I couldn't do that.
The media companies discussed on the direction of follow-up reports.
Some said now was the time to quit reporting on Sewol.
No more headlines would come out of it.
They knew that the stories of the Sewol ferry only made people lethargic.
They turned their eyes to Byeong-eun Yoo,
the owner of Cheonghaejin.
The story is very exciting; a rich man with a hidden fortune made many died
and now was running away in disguise.
It seemed just like a mystery novel
and was appealing to the stimulus-craving public.
Some news outlets quit reporting on Sewol
and others kept reporting,
as the story could draw attention from the public quite easily.
There's a tendency that happens occasionally,
based on the media outlet's perception that there's extreme interest in the story.
By keeping it alive, for better or worse,
actually continues to draw viewers, readers, or listeners.
The media outlets, except for the cases
of national public radio and television, are businesses.
their goal is to make money.
Their goal is also to do as best as they can
and hopefully that will make money.
The news companies are dominated by owners
and the owners have connection with the powerful.
Faced with the dog-eat-dog competition,
the media owners just were preoccupied
with the profit-oriented mindset for survival.
What's important is that
we tried to find someone responsible for Sewol's sinking.
And we found Byeong-eun Yoo.
However, while we just focused on Byeong-eun Yoo,
the interest in the truth of the Sewol disaster was a bit dwindled.
When the Founding Fathers of this country
put in place the first amendment,
they didn't have in mind the coverage of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan;
they had in mind creating the nexus of eyes and ears to keep a close watch
on the government, on business, and on big institutions.
The problem was that we'd never learned about
how to deal with this.
After my broadcasting schedule was done on the day the Sewol disaster happened,
I browsed the books that I studied.
They are foreign books translated into Korean.
In there, all were explained.
The goal is the same. Look beneath the surface of story,
as to what could the powerful have done to prevent this
or what could the powerful be doing
to make this work out better for those who are being impacted.
The media companies are blinded by the excessive competition.
Serving the common good
isn't given the top priority.
So focus on the "Why" questions.
"Why did something happen?"
What did the government not do that should have done to protect people,
what is it doing to make sure that if it takes disaster like an earthquake
what are the authorities, people on power, doing to make sure that the aid
and the money and the food get to the right people
so there would be no siphoning off of resources,
what is something to be done ahead of time to make sure that
prevent the large numbers of people from being killed.
Most of the media outlets didn't cover the story at the scene
and they just used the pool reports came out from the countermeasure headquarters.
This created lots of incorrect reports.
The governmental agencies distributed the news
by calling the top management of news media.
This is the organizational contradiction of the Korean news media.
I guess this was the case with the news coverage regarding the Sewol ferry.
The government tries to influence what the media covers, all the time.
We use the government to get story ideas.
We develop sources, using them to get stories
on the newspaper, television, and the web sites.
And they are using you because they want to deliver a certain message out,
to kill a certain bill, again, to derail somebody's career,
to help somebody's career, depending on what their motive is.
So, again, their relationships are complicated
because it's not totally what it seems on the surface, sometimes.
When I began my career in journalism,
those from the Student National Defence Corps,
the government-patronized student council of the time,
or the college media that were also controlled
by the government
could get into the media outlets
as reporters or producers
through special employment program.
At that time, those who collaborated with the military dictatorship
could get a job in the media.
Many of the top management of big broadcasting companies,
for instance, KBS and MBC,
are the people specially employed.
So, structurally,
the press of Korea has been under control of the government.
You want the press to be independent,
you want it to be aggressive, you want it to be vigilant,
you want it to keep an eye on the government, the power, and corporations in individuals.
It's supposed to provide a voice for people who don't have a voice.
To be what we called the fourth estate,
so that sometimes, the government isn't capable of watching over itself,
and then it needs an outside eye and we provide that.
And there's an example.
I think that speaks volumes about
why we don't see the same kinds of harassment
and the hardships of reporters across the globe,
why we don't see that here in this country.
In 1977, a reporter named Don Bolles was working in Arizona,
uncovering corruption in Arizona.
Organized crime figures killed him; they blew up his car and he died.
A group of journalists across this country
got together and descended upon Arizona.
They finished Don Bolles' work
and they did bring his killers in justice.
What they did send was incredibly powerful message.
To people who think about killing journalists
or squelching what they are doing.
And that message is "You can stop maybe one of us,
but you can't stop all of us."
This is an example I always speak in countries around the world
where in fact there is no freedom of the press.
The press needs to be overhauled.
To this end, readers must send written protest via e-mail on false reports,
visit the newspaper company,
and send complaint letters to the desk editor
and editor in chief.
In advanced countries,
readers even write a replacement article
and send it to the reporter who made incorrect coverage.
The readers send a silent protest that implies "Even a reader can write an article.
Why can't you do this, a professional journalist?"
It is the most painful experience for human beings to tolerate the death of family,
in particular, their child.
If their child died like that, they would do the same.
But some say the bereaved families make bad use of the Sewol disaster politically,
for their own interests.
No one can do that when their children died.
As time went by, unfortunately, the disaster turned into
a political showdown between the opposition party
that attempted to politically utilize the situation
and the ruling party that wanted to defend themselves.
Whether the Sewol special act would be enacted
became the one and only issue, after all.
Actually, I don't care about politics.
I don't know well about what the opposition and the ruling parties mean.
I just want to know how come the kids died.
I read a lot of negative comments on the Internet.
They say we want compensation.
Some say we've already obtained a large compensation.
But you know what?
we've never received compensation.
Rumor has it that the family received 500 million KRW or whatever.
I don't give a damn. I won't be bothered at all on the rumor.
I don't care about the guys who think
the families can make money by using their dead children.
Some say you can get compensation.
No, I won't.
What the... I'll rather pay out a fortune
if someone raise my son from the dead and take him to me.
I think the Koreans sympathize with the pain of the bereaved
of the Sewol disaster.
But there are someone who says
they are fed up with the Sewol news and tries to turn a blind eye to it.
In fact, they want to escape from the pain.
They use the evasive speech
and they say the Sewol ferry disaster
drags the politics and economy down.
This is never helpful
for addressing this issue.
It's 20/20 hindsight,
but I would like to underscore that the renovation on vessel needs,
although it's not illegal,
to be very careful.
And I'm also worried that the Sewol ferry would not be the only one
that reduced ballast water for overloading.
Not all societies were advanced ones from their beginning.
Back in 1870s, even the U. S. was chaotic.
A fire broke out in a building in New York,
many female workers died,
as someone locked the door.
In the aftermath of the disaster,
a bill that made it an obligation not to lock the door was enacted.
And there was a fire in a department store
and it killed many people
as the revolving door did not open.
Then the regulation, which an extra door should be installed next to revolving door
and it must be open all the time, was made,
We should review the framework of humanism
that takes life seriously.
The life is a thing of the prime importance.
We won't be happy unless life is guaranteed,
no matter how rich we are.
Without life, we are not happy at all.
Under the situation that democratic control
and reinforcement of citizenship
are not yet to realized, all distribution,
including distribution of resources, are deviated sharply,
unless we can trust each other to be fair.
Then, everyone does not abide by the rules.
Shocking accidents are happening one right after another
and now we have a callous attitude toward the suffering of others.
Only a large scale accident, as shocking and tragic as Sewol,
can whip up our interest.
This can be really formidable,
given that this can worsen the ignorance of safety.
Therefore, when an accident takes place,
like the national improvement that the president said,
we have to make a drastic and fundamental change.
If the countermeasures are fizzled out
without actual effect,
people will think "it remains the same,"
the distrust will be deepened,
and the insensitivity towards safety will not be rooted out.
The words of "Stay put" killed approximately 300 people
in the Sewol ferry disaster.
Furthermore,
it has connotations for the Korean society as a whole.
There should be the deeply rooted cause that makes the issues,
which were exposed through the Sewol disaster, repeatedly arise.
Then, in order to eradicate the cause,
we should not stay put.
We should move to make changes.
Post-Sewol Korea should be a completely different nation from pre-Sewol Korea.
I want to give her a big hug.
She is a good girl smiling in memories
but not a type of daddy's little girl.
When she was younger, she kissed me on the cheek.
But now she thought she was too old to kiss her parents.
"Why don't you kiss your daddy on the cheek?"
Then she reluctantly kissed me.
I just want to give her a big hug, a really big hug.
When I meet Goun again in heaven, I'll tell her.
Your daddy did his best,
as you always looked down from heaven.
I did my best
and I hope you are pleased with my efforts.
And... I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that
I'm not good enough to be a good dad.
I'll tell her I'm sorry that
I couldn't do all for her.
As I said, she was just about to bloom.
But I couldn't take care of her. I couldn't protect her.
She is a thoughtful girl.
She doesn't want me to worry.
I know that she takes care of me there.
It hurts her to see me cry, so she will cry harder.
We have to walk in other's shoes.
If it were your family, what would you do?
No one can stay put.
Thanks so much for joining us.
The spread of MERS is amplifying the anxiety of the Koreans,
however, the complacency prevailing in the society remains the same.
The civilian medical experts,
who attended at private-public sector emergency review meeting
on MERS outbreaks held on June 3,
all pointed that "the public fear went too far."
President Park Geun-hye made a statement that
"Our goal is to eradicate the MERS virus, however, on the other hand,
we should minimize and overcome the ripple effect in terms of economy,
as a way to put an end to MERS,"
calling for economic countermeasures.