hankyoreh

the day of the Sewol tragedy

By Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporter

10 am to 5 pm, April 16th.

It was 10 am on this day - the day the Sewol ferry sank - that President Park Geun-hye received the first written report about the incident from Kim Jang-soo, national security chief at the Blue House. By that point, the ship was listing dangerously to port side and was on the verge of capsizing.

At 5 pm, Park left the Blue House and headed to the Central Disaster Headquarters at the Ministry of Security and Public Administration in Seoul. Upon arriving at the headquarters, she asked why it was so hard to find the high school students on the Sewol if they were wearing life preservers.

But by that point, the Sewol was already wreathed in the powerful waves and rushing water, and even divers were unable to enter the ship. After that point, not a single passenger was rescued.

The reason that the victims’ families and the opposition party asked for an explanation of what Park was doing for those seven hours is that her response implies that she knew nothing about the rescue efforts or the situation at the site. It is inevitable for questions to be raised about whether Park was properly briefed about the accident and what response Park and her advisors at the Blue House made. If Park’s response was delayed because she was briefed incorrectly, this should be made public and the guilty parties should be identified.

But the Blue House has not even released the basic facts about which the public should be informed, facts that the press has the right to request to ensure that the public is informed. In so doing, the Blue House allowed speculation of a completely different nature to spread. As a result, Park‘s seven missing hours became more than a topic of debate for politicians in the ruling and opposition parties and resulted in a dispute between the Blue House and a Japanese newspaper.

Until recently, the Blue House continued to reject requests that it disclose information about Park’s whereabouts and detailed work schedule on Apr. 16, on the grounds that these are records designated by the president. When media organizations and political parties including the Green Party requested that this information be released, the Blue House refused to comply, citing similar reasons.

On Oct. 8, the Hankyoreh and civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy requested the disclosure of information related to briefings received by the president and the response the president made at the time of the Sewol tragedy. This request was based on a report about the work Park did in connection with the Sewol that Saenuri Party (NFP) lawmaker Cho Won-jin received from the Blue House.

The Hankyoreh and People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy asked for the release of the registration number and the complete text of the fourteen written briefings made by the national security chief, the security office, and the office of the secretary of state affairs. They also asked whether the documents had been destroyed or lost, and if so at what time and for what reason.

If the Blue House decides not to release these documents, the Hankyoreh and People‘s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy are planning to file an administrative lawsuit.

“The Blue House has yet to provide any clear explanation of what briefings it received about the Sewol tragedy and how it responded. There is no conceivable reason under Article 9, Clause 1, of the Official Information Disclosure Act why our request for the disclosure of this information should be refused. Furthermore, disclosing the information is in the public interest, since it would allow the public to determine if the Blue House responded appropriately,” said Jeong Min-young, a lawyer at the civic group’s public interest law center.

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