Kim Dong-yeon: "We Will Remember Until the End So the Lessons of the Sewol Ferry Take Root in Our Society"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon stated, "We will remember until the end so that the lessons of the Sewol Ferry take root completely in our society."

Governor Kim attended the 10th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony for the Sewol Ferry Disaster on the 16th and said through his eulogy, "520 Fridays have already passed since the day the children were supposed to return, yet the unchanged reality of the Republic of Korea remains shamefully unchanged," adding "Gyeonggi Province will do differently. In Gyeonggi Province, 'safety' will be the top priority."

He continued, "Of the 12 major recommendations made by the 'Special Investigation Committee for Social Disasters (SICSD)' regarding the Sewol Ferry Disaster, the central government has implemented only 1 to date," criticizing that "they have not acknowledged responsibility, offered a formal apology, or promised to prevent recurrence. Government budgets for Sewol Ferry memorial projects and medical expense support have been cut across the board, and the 4.16 Life Safety Park is also being delayed due to cost-benefit logic."

Governor Kim emphasized, "Until the bereaved families and victims are sufficiently recovered, until the values of 'safety' and 'human rights' are properly upheld in our society, we will wait indefinitely. If this government does not do so, then in the next government—we will remember until the end and stand together so that the lessons of the Sewol Ferry take root completely in our society."

The 10th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony for the Sewol Ferry Disaster was held on the 16th at Hwanrang Recreation Area in Ansan, hosted and organized by the 4.16 Foundation and the 4.16 Sewol Ferry Disaster Families Association. The event was attended by approximately 2,000 people including bereaved families, Governor Kim Dong-yeon, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Mayor of Ansan.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province is operating a week-long memorial period from the 11th to the 17th to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sewol Ferry Disaster. The province is hoisting Sewol Ferry memorial flags at the flagpoles of the Gwanggyo and Uijeongbu Northern Provincial Government buildings. The memorial flag features a black ribbon design on a yellow background with the phrase "One small movement creates a great miracle."

Additionally, the province has installed stand-type banners with the message "All 14 million people of Gyeonggi Province will not forget the sacrificed victims who became stars" at entrances and lobbies of each government building, and has installed memorial banners at the entrance to the Gwanggyo Government Building basement level 1 and at Exit 4 of Gwanggyo Central Station.

The province has been operating an online memorial hall for the 10th anniversary of the Sewol Ferry since January this year within the 'Memory and Solidarity' portal on the Gyeonggi Province website (gg.go.kr). During the memorial period, clicking the web banner links directly to the site where anyone can visit and write a memorial message.

● Full Text of Governor Kim Dong-yeon's Eulogy

Ten years ago today, I held the position of Deputy Prime Minister at the Presidential Chief of Staff's Office.

On the day of the disaster, the Prime Minister at that time was returning from an overseas trip.

When I heard the shocking news that "all Sewol Ferry passengers rescued" was misinformation, I immediately contacted the Prime Minister who was in Bangkok, a stopover point.

I told him to go to Muan Airport instead of Seoul Airport, to go to Jindo Gymnasium and meet with the families of Sewol Ferry passengers.

The next morning, I recommended to the Prime Minister that "this disaster is a serious matter requiring not only the Prime Minister's resignation but also the resignation of the entire cabinet," and I separately and continuously expressed my resignation.

And two months later, I stepped down from my position.

I was sorry as an adult.

I felt more guilty as a public servant.

Those who have experienced saying goodbye to the person they love most understand.

Those who have wept asking to be sent in place of that person understand.

I understand that most pain and longing fade before time, but very rarely, there are things that do not.

Joon-hyung from Class 8, Grade 2.

The thoughtful older brother who would not wake his sleeping younger siblings on the morning of the school trip. The eldest son who resisted buying ice cream with his allowance to save up for chocolate to give to his father and younger siblings.

Geon-woo from Class 5, Grade 2.

His mother's wonderful name for him—"Geon" meaning to build and "Woo" meaning to unfold—the eldest son with deep compassion who first worried about his closest Danwon High School friends Joon-woo, Seong-ho, Jae-wook, and Je-hun.

Last year and the year before, I left letters in the Memory Classroom for certain children.

Do-eon from Class 3, Grade 2.

The beautiful daughter who called her mother that night heading toward Jeju, saying "Mom, I love you."

Young-in from Class 6, Grade 2.

The multi-talented athlete who really loved soccer, the warm youngest who was like a daughter.

How could it be just these four students?

The breath and faces of each of the 304 people whose names were just called remain vivid and clear in all of us who survived.

The bereaved families have endured ten springs of heartache, holding in their hearts the dear ones who seem as though they might suddenly appear from somewhere and run toward us smiling.

I simply want to embrace them warmly.

Because I know all too well that nothing can comfort them.

I also wish to gently embrace the shoulders of the survivors who have grown so much taller than the friends who went on that school trip together.

It is the tenth spring.

520 Fridays have already passed since the day the children were supposed to return.

Yet I still see the unchanged reality of the Republic of Korea.

I am deeply ashamed.

Regarding the Sewol Ferry Disaster, of the 12 major recommendations made by the 'Special Investigation Committee for Social Disasters (SICSD),' the central government has implemented only 1 to date.

They have not acknowledged responsibility, offered a formal apology, or promised to prevent recurrence.

Government budgets for Sewol Ferry memorial projects and medical expense support have been cut one after another.

The 4.16 Life Safety Park is also being delayed due to cost-benefit logic.

Tragic disasters have repeated themselves.

159 innocent lives were lost in the heart of Seoul.

Marines were sacrificed after being swept into a strong current without life jackets.

Still, no one takes responsibility, and people are only hurrying to cover up the truth.

Our reality has not advanced one step from ten years ago.

That is not all.

The economy is still trapped in the experience of successful development-era models and cannot change its old framework.

Education too is seeing ever-strengthening intense competition and the rigid hierarchy of academic pedigree.

What about politics?

In the increasingly entrenched winner-take-all structure and endless repetition of extreme struggle and confrontation, the lives and safety of the people have been pushed to the back.

We cannot find answers to these many challenges facing us—rapid changes in international politics, shifting paradigms in the global economy, technological progress and climate change, and even low birth rates.

This cannot continue.

Some people say it is time to stop now, time to forget.

That is wrong. We cannot.

Until the bereaved families and victims are sufficiently recovered, until the values of 'safety' and 'human rights' are properly upheld in our society, we will wait indefinitely.

If this government does not do so, then in the next government—we will remember until the end and stand together so that the lessons of the Sewol Ferry take root completely in our society.

Gyeonggi Province will do differently.

In Gyeonggi Province, 'safety' will be the top priority.

After the Itaewon Disaster two years ago, Gyeonggi Province conducted the nation's first and largest-scale social disaster response drill at Suwon Station.

Six months later, when a similar accident occurred in Seongnam, thanks to the experience from that drill, we were fortunately able to prevent greater damage.

We directly realized that disasters can surely be prevented.

It is not just about safety.

Gyeonggi Province is changing the paradigm to a people-centered economy and a community of shared prosperity, and we are also changing the landscape of politics through dialogue and compromise.

We reaffirm today our pledge that Gyeonggi Province will lead the way in creating a changing Republic of Korea.

I read the book <Demanding Responsibility> written at the center by the bereaved families.

They watched the ship's CCTV again and again to return to that morning.

They saw their living children again.

They walked the corridors and stairs where their children walked inside the Sewol Ferry hull again and again.

They counted the number of steps it would have taken to reach the exit.

The prologue of the book concludes as follows:

"Just as the Park Geun-hye administration obstructed the truth investigation of the Sewol Ferry Disaster, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is blocking the truth investigation of the Itaewon Disaster.

The end of the Park Geun-hye administration will be the future of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

Those who hide the truth will sink, but the truth never sinks."

The subtitle of this book is "We demanded responsibility, and the state has demanded responsibility."

That is right.

The tenth spring has come, but we will not forget.

We will remember the 304 people, each and every one of them, forever.

We will hold each other's hands by continuing the thread of memory and never give up.

We will together build a safe nation, a nation where opportunity flows like a river, a world where people live.

Gyeonggi Province will be with you every step of the way.

April 16, 2024

Governor Kim Dong-yeon, Gyeonggi Province