SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - April 5, 2015: Sewol student victim Kim Yu-min's father Kim Young-oh holds his late daughter's funerary portrait in protest of the government’s attempt to neutralize the independent investigation into the ruling party's handling of the ferry disaster. Due to the untimely deaths of the many young victims, families used their children’s student ID photos for their funerary portraits. In July 2014, Kim went on a hunger strike for 46 days, emerging as an icon in the fight against the increasing repression in South Korea. His transformation and struggle is illustrative of the collective experience of all Sewol victims’ families.
JINDO, SOUTH KOREA - May 16, 2014: The Jindo Gymnasium was used as he emergency shelter for the families of the missing passengers for 7 months. Passengers’ bodies were pulled from the sunken ferry one by one and, as time passed, the families began congratulating each other when their respective children’s bodies were retrieved. Eventually the families of the missing all became families of the deceased. One parent described the experience as “a funeral taking place every 25 minutes,” alluding to the magnitude of the disaster.
JINDO, SOUTH KOREA - April 19, 2014: Three days after the sinking, government officials exchange whispers at the Paengmok Port, Jindo County, while the families of the passengers desperately wait for the return of their loved ones.
JINDO, SOUTH KOREA - April 15, 2015: One day before the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry sinking, the bereaved families board a boat at the Paengmok port and set out to the accident site to pay tribute to the victims.
PAENGMOK PORT, JINDO COUNTY, South Korea - July 22, 2014: A lone buddhist monk prays for the ferry victims at a make-shift altar. The monk had come to the port during the initial stages of the disaster, praying for the safe return of passengers. Three months later, he was praying for their souls.
ANSAN, SOUTH KOREA - July 14, 2014: Yellow boxes containing petition papers are laid out before funerary portraits at the official altar in Ansan. The families were collecting signatures to demand the creation of the Sewol Special Law that would allow an independent commission to investigate the disaster. By the time the petition was handed over to the National Assembly, it had been signed by 3,501,266 people.
ANSAN, SOUTH KOREA - April 4, 2015: Sewol victim Kim Si-yeon's mother Yoon Kyung-hee and sister Kim Ee-yeon lean on each other as a 2-day protest march to Seoul is about to begin. Days before the first anniversary of the sinking, South Korean government issued an enforcement decree of the Sewol Special Act, which, among other things, gave it the power to appoint investigators. Fearing that the decree would compromise the impartiality of the investigation, bereaved parents protested by shaving their heads and carrying their children’s funerary portraits during the two-day march.
ANSAN, SOUTH KOREA - March 17, 2015: Along with other belongings, Sewol victim Kim Da-young’s original student ID (seen in front) was retrieved from the sunken ferry. After nearly a year, sea water had corroded the metal chain, alluding to a slow and painful death by drowning.
ANSAN, SOUTH KOREA - March 1, 2015: Time stands still in classrooms of Danwon High School once occupied by the Sewol student victims. The desks of the deceased are covered with flowers, treats and mementos; empty desks belong to survivors. Out of 325 students onboard, only 75 escaped the capsizing ferry.
PYEONGTAEK, SOUTH KOREA - Mar 26, 2016: Sewol father Ahn Jae-soo offers a cup of beer during his late son Ju-hyeon’s birthday rite. The parents of Kim Je-hoon, another Sewol victim and Ju-hyun’s classmate, came to the memorial park in support. Had he been alive, Ju-hyun would have turned 19 on March 28, the legal drinking age in Korea.
PYEONGTAEK, SOUTH KOREA - 26 March 2016: Sewol student victim Ahn Ju-hyeon's mother Kim Jeong-hae weeps quietly, leaning on the glass chest where her son's ashes were laid to rest. Because of the Sewol Special Investigative Committee's second hearing, Ju-hyun's family decided to have a birthday rite two days prior to the actual date. Barely a few weeks before the second anniversary of the sinking, due to non-cooperation and obstruction from governmental bodies and witnesses, the truth-seeking process had barely begun.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - April 18, 2015: Police forces and conscripts in riot gear are dispatched to suppress a demonstration in downtown Seoul around the one year anniversary of the Sewol ferry sinking. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency later confirmed that 20,000 members of the police force had been deployed.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - April 18, 2015: Two days after the first anniversary of the ferry sinking, police fire pepper spray at a bereaved parent, human rights watchers, and protesters as the police barricade separating the parties was breached.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - 3 Dec 2016: An estimated 2.3 million people – 1.6 million in Seoul alone – took to the streets all over South Korea to voice their outrage after Park Geun-hye’s third televised address to the nation, on Nov. 29. Park said she was leaving it to the National Assembly to come up with a plan for her exit, but people saw her words as a gambit to stall the impeachment process. The protests continued for a sixth consecutive weekend, adding pressure on the government and the ruling Saenuri party.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - August 2, 2014: At the entrance of Sewol student victim Park Ye-seul’s post-mortem art exhibition, a catholic nun carefully tends tribute notes left by visitors. The messages include, “We’re sorry”, “We’ll never forget you” and “Rest in Peace.”
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - 9 Dec 2016: After seven weeks of candlelight protests and political struggle, the National Assembly's votes tallied at 234 to 56, in favor of President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. Parents of the Sewol ferry victims celebrated and said, “This is only the beginning.”
JINDO, SOUTH KOREA - Mar 23, 2017: Two floating platforms raise the Sewol ferry near the accident site, which is close to Donggeocha Island in Jindo, South Korea, March 23. After the ship had been brought to the surface, it was transported to Mokpo New Port, the nearest major harbor. There, officials recovered the still missing bodies of 4 victims and examined the vessel to determine the cause of the capsize. The remains of 5 passengers have not been found to this day.
ANSAN, SOUTH KOREA - 20 Aug 2016: Sewol student victim Oh Young-seok's mother Kwon Mi-hwa breaks down after the memorabilia of the deceased had been removed from the Danwon High School classrooms two years and 4 months after the ferry’s sinking. The classrooms had become a shrine and a memorial for the victims and their families and remained so even after the victims' supposed graduation date in January that year.
ANSAN, South Korea - January 14, 2015: “Happy birthday, my princess.” The Sewol hunger striker and father Kim Young-oh blows out candles on his late daughter Yu-min’s birthday. Had she been alive, Yu-min would have turned 18 on January 14, 2015.
JINDO, SOUTH KOREA - Dec. 30, 2016: Stars shine above the red lighthouse in Paengmok Port, which has been dubbed the "lighthouse of waiting."
Sewol Aftermath: Landscapes of Feigned Ignorance
On April 16, 2014, the South Korean ferry Sewol capsized and sank, claiming the lives of 304 people – 250 of which were students on a high school field trip. Layers of corruption and lax regulations led to the biggest human-made disaster in South Korea’s modern history.
The then-ultra conservative government of President Park Geun-hye immediately shunned all accountability and politicized the issue. Rumors spread that the victims’ families were after money and privileges. Pro-government factions and groups mocked parents who went on hunger strikes to gather support.
The Sewol families’ protests were brutally oppressed by police, sometimes with pepper spray and water cannons. An independent committee set up to investigate the disaster saw its truth-seeking efforts blocked by budget cuts and political interference. The Park Geun-hye government also systematically tried to obliterate the legacy and memory of the Sewol. Later it was found that 9,473 artists supporting the families had been blacklisted by the government and excluded from receiving any state funding.
The Sewol Aftermath was and is an underreported human rights crisis in a seemingly democratic and developed country. It culminated in South Korea’s Candlelight Revolution, which eventually led to Park Geun-hye’s ouster and a peaceful regime change. However, the families grapple with the trauma inflicted by the disaster and aggravated by the aftermath as their journey to find closure continues to this day.
