hankyoreh

In the second day of efforts to rescue the people who are missing after the sinking of the Sewol, there has unfortunately been no progress. It is heartbreaking to see the ferry, upside down in the cold water along with around 280 missing passengers with only part of the prow sticking above the surface, not only for the families of the missing but for the entire Korean public. Words fail to describe how horrible this situation is. Nevertheless, the government must never give up hope, sparing no effort in the rescue work.

While tragic, the sinking of the ferry was avoidable. The direct cause of the accident has yet to be determined, but the facts that have come to light and the testimony provided by the survivors makes it clear that this was a stereotypical man-made disaster resulting from Korean society’s indifference to safety concerns. More specifically, evidence is surfacing that shows the total inadequacy of the government’s initial response to the accident.

In a disaster such as the sinking of a passenger ship, the first response is of the utmost importance, since each minute, each second, can make the difference in saving lives. If the government had at least had a disaster response system in place, it would have been possible to deploy the rescue equipment and personnel in a rapid and organized fashion, accounting for all foreseeable contingencies.

But the government did not take the crisis seriously in the early stages and thus failed to move quickly to begin rescue operations. It claimed that it had activated a joint public-private response system involving the military and based in the Central Office of Disaster Safety Measures, part of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, but these claims has yet to be verified.

The government’s pathetic inability to respond to accidents is also reflected in its failure to even grasp the basic situation twelve hours after receiving word of the accident. The figures provided by the Central Office about the number of passengers on the Sewol, the number of rescue workers, and the number of missing persons changed throughout the day, adding to the confusion. On the evening of the accident, after a string of contradictory reports about the rescue work, the public witnessed the disgusting spectacle of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration and the Coast Guard both trying to avoid responsibility for the rescue work.

The government’s clumsy response was also evident in the comments made by President Park Geun-hye. The Blue House reported that, just after the accident occurred, Park worriedly instructed the relevant ministries to ensure that not a single life be lost. It also explained that Park paid a personal visit to the Central Office when the situation took a turn for the worse around 5 pm, about eight hours after the accident. During this visit, the Blue House said, Park asked the second vice minister of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration why it was so hard to find the high school students if they were wearing life jackets. These remarks demonstrate that Park had not been accurately briefed on the basic situation on the ground or had failed to understand the situation. The passengers had not been able to put on life jackets at the time of the accident, and most of the missing were trapped inside their chambers in the capsized ship - facts that anyone could have picked up from simply watching the coverage on TV.

The Park Geun-hye administration selected safety as one of its primary governing objectives, even renaming the Ministry of Public Administration and Safety as the Ministry of Safety and Public Administration. But judging from the government’s performance from the moment the accident occurred through the ongoing rescue efforts, it is doubtful whether even a rudimentary disaster response system is in place. It is no exaggeration to conclude that this is an administration that only pays lip service to safety while in reality being completely apathetic about the issue.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]