5. APOLOGY. WON’T FORGET YOU. WE GET OURSELVES READY IN RESPONSE TO YOUR REQUEST

– 18 Social Civic Groups at joint press conference on Sewol Disaster

 We do present our apology. We will not forget this tragedy.  

 Now we are ready to respond to every request from family members of the victims.

 We, 18 Korean Social Civic Groups, mourn all the victims dead or unaccounted for due to the ferry disaster, and wish every person unaccounted for be rescued as soon as possible. 

 We have felt deeply sorry for the victims and their families since we, members of the Korean Society, failed to establish a proper system for preventing disastrous accidents. At the same time, we also have longed for the Korean government to engage in  full-scale all-out rescue operations in the first place, refraining from denouncing the government’s incompetence and negligence.

 However, President Park Geun-hye at the Cabinet Council meeting on 29th of April made a statement to apologize for the Sewol ferry disaster, which invited doubts and suspicion on her sincerity from the families of the victims. Right that afternoon “Countermeasure Committee for the Bereaved Family” held a press conference for urging the government as well as Korean citizens to meet their desperate request. 

We, 18 Korean Social Civic Groups, do hereby give our heartfelt responses to their request.

 First, we are not going to turn our faces away from the families who are asking for the shipping company having cyclical corrupt relations with the oversight administrational bodies, the bureaucratic incompetent Authorities Related, and the Government failing to supply any proper support or measures for the bereaved families wanting the missing back, to take full responsibilities for their criminal negligence and misconducts.

 We are not just shedding tears any more while the bereaved families even try to wipe our tears. Now we are going to stand beside them and to fully support them on their requests, encouraging the whole Korean citizens to join us until the families realize their all demands, not to let them feel lonely and unfair.

 Second, we strongly call for the government to stop making excuses, and to take more active proper measures for 11 victims still unaccounted for to come back to the families of the victims, who are now formally demanding the government should make full trustworthy explanation for the exact cause and sequence of the tragic accident.

 We are demanding the government to thoroughly probe into the malfunctions and problems of the vessel, controling and managing failure, ineffectiveness of search and rescue operations and so on, in order to reveal the reasons why a ferry capsizing accident was magnified into a huge disaster. There should be no tolerance in investigating this catastrophic accident which leaves all Koreans submerging under the sea together with the victims out of sadness and shock.

 Therefore, we are requiring the government to answer every question raised by the families in a sincere manner. We also press the government to hurry search and rescue operations for the rest still in the waters.  We are going to monitor and urge the government reactions and measures to meet the demands from the families.

 Third, we urge President Park Geun-hye to take proper manners and pay a sincere  apology for the tragic accident to the bereaved families. It was crystal clear that her statement made in front of the Cabinet members failed to deliver her true comprehension and sincere apology for the disaster which devastated the whole lives of the victims and their families. The president and her advisory teams for the Blue House should understand this: a simple earnest apology from the bottom of her heart will work much more than they have worked ever since.

 Finally, we ask the president and government to stop improvising, rather to revise the policy basis as well as make “Citizen Security”  her top policy priority. We are also going to make every effort to take the Sewol Tragedy as chance for changing top priorities among the current government policies and the current mainstream social values.

 At this moment, Korean citizens bitterly reflect on ignoring the importance of citizen security at the expense of only putting emphasis on quantitative growth for our society, while hoping for Korea to change into a right direction. Due to this tragedy, we come to realize that there’s nothing more precious than human rights and lives. It is regrettable that the president and government haven’t come to yet.

Thus, we urge the president and government to reflect on the Sewol Disaster and to come up with appropriate measures to deal with all the problems it left behind.   

 We hope the victims rest in peace, and to the requests from their families, we once again promise our supportive response. We do promise never to turn our backs on the pain and appeals from the Danwon High School students, victims accounted or unaccounted for, and their families.

1st of May, 

Korean Women’s Association United, Korean Women’s Environmental Network, Korean Women Workers Association, Korean Womenlink, Korea Women’s Hot Line, Green Korea United, Networks for Green Transport, Eco Horizon Institute, Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, Citizens’ Movement for Environmental Justice, Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media, Peace Network, Preparing Toward One Korea, Cultural Action, Citizens’ Action Network, Hung Sa Dan(Young Korean Academy; Y.K.A), People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, National Council of the Young Men's Christian Associations of Korea(more than 18 nation-wide branches)