Sewol Ferry Disaster Updates
As of January 2015, the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Investigation Committee has officially commenced its operations. However, the bereaved families have called for voluntary resignation of five of the seventeen committee members recommended by the ruling party, the Saenuri Party, because of their alleged political and ideological biases. For example, lawyer Cha Ki-hwan is said to have demeaned the bereaved families of the Sewol Ferry disaster in Twitter posts and has regularly uploaded posts from Ilbe, a far-right-leaning social media website. Lawyer Go Young-joo, formerly a public safety prosecutor, has made comments that the government should not be held accountable for the Sewol Ferry disaster. Lawyer Jo Dae-hwan was a key member of the National Future Research Institute, the President Park’s former think tank. As a close aide and champion of President Park, Jo was also an adviser on the presidential transition team.
On January 8, 2015, the Bereaved Families Committee for Victims, Missing Persons and Survivors of the Sewol Ferry Disaster held a press conference in front of MBC broadcasting station, denouncing MBC’s treatment of victims and bereaved families. Their accusations included MBC’s false report on the day of the occurrence that all the Danwon High School students on board were saved, despite this claim’s lack of credibility; MBC’s absence from the governmental investigation; and MBC’s labeling of the bereaved families, who protested around Ganghwamoon calling for the enactment of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Law, as a rogue group. In addition, the Bereaved Families Committee urged the government to conduct search operations for those still missing and salvage the sunken ship for evidence that could lead to future investigations.
An American university student, Austin Orecchio, posted a 14-minute documentary on YouTube titled “Day of the Living Dead” regarding the Sewol Ferry disaster and Korean mass media. The Bereaved Families Committee left a note on the video:
Hello Austin, we deeply appreciate this documentary and social message.
We uploaded that precious video in our official web and fb (facebook) page.
If necessary, you can get in touch with us by 416family.org@gmail.com
Austin Orecchio responded,
I’m grateful for your appreciation! My heart goes out to all the families affected by this tragedy. I only wish to remind people that we must remain aware of our responsibilities as citizens, we must fight for freedom.