Sewol Update April 2015
Translated by Kim Dong-hyun
A bereaved father baptized by Pope Francis plans to complete a three-step-one-bow ceremony for the Sewol Ferry disaster and its victims.
Mr. Lee Ho-jin, father of the late Lee Seung-hyun, one of the Danwon High School student victims, and Ms. Lee Ah-reum, Seung-hyun’s older sister, have been bowing once every three steps from Paengmok Harbor in Jindo Island to Gwanghwamun Gate in Seoul. The march started on February 23, 2015 with a plan to finish this June. Participants bow 3,000 times a day in honor of the Sewol Ferry disaster’s victims. Mr. Lee and his daughter walked about 562 miles carrying a five-foot long cross that weighs approximately 13 pounds, starting from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, via the Paengmok Harbor in Jindo Island to Daejeon in South Chungcheong Province, where Pope Francis held mass.
The Special Investigation Committee for the Sewol Ferry Disaster has officially launched its activities.
The Special Investigation Committee for the Sewol Ferry Disaster has officially begun it investigation. Its first official act was to visit the Sewol memorial altar in Ansan on March 6. The Committee will research for one year to seek the truth about the Sewol Ferry disaster, and the operating period can be renewed for up to six months. Although the Committee’s official activities have begun, it is predicted that personnel and budget issues will impede the actual research for the time being.
Police indicted the incumbent Seoul mayor for setting up the tents for the Sewol Ferry protest.
Calling for protection of the protesters at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, the government has embarked on a belated investigation using a conservative organization’s accusation as an excuse. In August 2014, the organization “Righteous Citizens’ Actions” accused three people, including Mayor Park Won-soon, of neglecting their duties to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office. Seoul police are investigating the case involving Seoul officials who allowed 13 tents to be set up near Gwanghwamun Square for the protest staged by the bereaved families, while indicting the incumbent Seoul mayor as a defendant.
The bereaved families have held approximately 500 discussions around Korea with attendance of an estimated 30,000 people. A nationwide signature-seeking campaign to salvage the sunken ferry intact has racked up 76,369 signatures from Korea and abroad. The book concert “Please Come Back Home On Friday” continues to be held in different cities around Korea. In March 2015, the bereaved mothers traveled to America for meetings in ten cities.