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074 scholars denouncing the South Korean government’s inept response to the Sewol crisis

By Park Seung-heon, staff reporter and Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

On May 14, the day before Teacher’s Day, 1,304 academics from Korea and elsewhere joined the ranks of those who are reflecting on and showing contrition for the widespread flaws in South Korean society that were brought to light by the sinking of the Sewol ferry.

“What we witnessed as the Sewol was sinking was the sinking of the system that we call the state and the sinking of ethics, conscience, and responsibility. We propose that the entire Korean people view the tragedy of the Sewol, which revealed the true desolation of our society and the helplessness of our government, as an opportunity to reflect and to repent,” said a statement signed by 131 professors at Yonsei University.

“On Teacher’s Day, we want to look carefully at ourselves as professors who teach students and who do academic work. We must ask whether, when we saw the corruption and self-interest in society and the tendency to focus on results alone while ignoring process and principles, we abetted and exploited those tendencies instead of critiquing and reforming them,” the professors said in the statement, which was titled “Bearing Grief, Toward a Restoration of Community.”

“The current administration and politicians who were negligent about guaranteeing the safety, freedom, and happiness of the Korean public must thoroughly reflect on what they have done and take action to determine the causes and to take preventative measures,” the professors said, criticizing the government for its failure to fulfill its responsibility to protect the Korean public, which is specified in the constitution.

The professors also slammed corporations for their greed, which was one cause of the accident, and bashed the media for not reporting the facts properly and for being remiss in its duty to keep tabs on the government. “We hope that these sectors will also engage in repentance and introspection,” the statement said.

Five professors at Yonsei University - Kim Wan-bae and Kim Ho-gi, both professors of sociology; Bang Yeon-sang, theology professor; Yun Hye-jun, English literature professor; and Lee Jong-su, law professor - prepared Korean and English language versions of the statement. A total of 131 professors signed the document, including 15 foreign professors.

179 academics from Kyung Hee University’s Humanitas College issued a statement titled, “We return our Teacher’s Day Honor”, meaning the scholars feel they don’t deserve to be honored after the Sewol tragedy.

1,074 South Korean and foreign scholars working overseas also issued a statement holding the government responsible and calling for tighter regulations designed to ensure the public interest.

On May 13, Salisbury University professor Nam Tae-hyun and four other scholars presented a statement at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., titled “The Sewol Ferry Tragedy as a Warning: Neoliberal Deregulation and Lack of Democratic Accountability in South Korea.” The statement was signed by 577 professors, 163 postdoctoral researchers, and 334 independent scholars.

Around 130 foreign professors took part, including Norma Field, professor at the University of Chicago, and Nancy Abelmann, professor at the University of Illinois. It is highly unusual for more than 1,000 foreign scholars to issue a statement on a specific issue.

“We find that the tragic sinking of the ferry was caused by not only the immoral and incapable crew but also the Park Geun-hye government’s continued neoliberal policies that undermine public safety. Also we determine that over two hundred passengers drowned to death due to the government’s failure to handle the crisis and organize a rescue operation in a timely and responsible manner,” the scholars warned.

The statement called for treatment and reparations for the victims and their families, for the government and the president to recognize that protecting the lives and safety of the people is their most fundamental responsibility, for a special prosecutor to be assigned a special law to be drawn up, for the policies of privatization and indiscriminate relaxation of public regulations to be revoked, and for media censorship to be ended.

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