hankyoreh

Sewol Fact-Finding Commission Chair Lee Seok-tae during an interview with the Hankyoreh at the Commission’s office in central Seoul

Following the Apr. 13 general elections, the discussion about revising the Special Sewol Law and appointing a special prosecutor is going into overdrive. This is why the special fact-finding commission for the Sewol tragedy, which has been persistently asking the National Assembly to guarantee its independence and its period of activity, is pinning its hopes on the newly elected bunch of lawmakers.
Even though the commission is a government agency that was launched with the support of the Sewol victims’ families and with the signatures of around 6.5 million South Koreans, its very existence has been questioned. The Hankyoreh sat down with Commission Chair Lee Seok-tae, who has had the difficult task of leading the commission, to ask about its future. This article is based on in-person and written interviews that took place on Apr. 5, before the general elections, and Apr. 19, after the elections.　

Hankyoreh (Hani): The general elections on Apr. 13 resulted in the ruling party becoming the minority and the opposition gaining a majority. Opposition parties are saying that the Special Sewol Law needs to be revised.

Lee Seok-tae (Lee): We appreciate the National Assembly’s interest in the special commission. We have continued to ask the National Assembly to approve our request for a special prosecutor, to study the hull of the ferry, to approve our funding and to guarantee our period of activity. We ask for their full cooperation for making these things a reality.

The Special Sewol Law states that our report must include recommendations for comprehensive measures for a safe society and for providing support to the victims, that government agencies must implement these recommendations and that the National Assembly must receive reports about the results of this implementation and make requests for improvement. This shows just how important a role the National Assembly must play in achieving the purpose of the Special Sewol Law.

Hani: What did you do on the second anniversary of the tragedy? There were no official government memorial services on the anniversary.

Lee: On Apr. 15, the day before the anniversary, the special commission had its own memorial service, and I offered incense at the joint memorial in Ansan with the commission employees. On the anniversary itself, I attended a service for remembering the tragedy two years later that was held in Ansan and an opening ceremony for a memorial to victims of the accident who were not students.

Last year, President Park visited Paengmok Port and delivered a specific message in which she announced that the ship would be raised, but this year, it was very unfortunate that there was no official memorial service or message. I hope that the president will recognize that such gestures can persuade the victims’ families to trust the government and that she will be more proactive about them.

Hani: During the second hearing that was held on Mar. 28 and 29, new testimony emerged suggesting that Chonghaejin Marine had given instructions for passengers to be told to wait over the intercom. Thus, testimony that was not given in the prosecutors‘ investigation, the courtroom trial, the parliamentary probe or the investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection came to light during the special commission’s investigation. What do you think is the reason for that?

Lee: When I was told that Sewol helmsman Cho Jun-gi [who gave this testimony during the hearing] had refused to appear in the hearing, I thought it would be good for me as chairman to make a personal gesture of my sincerity. So I went to see him and persuaded him that it would better for the victims’ families for him to come to the hearing and say what he had been wanting to say.

I think that the fact that our investigators have been treating the people under investigation with dignity and have been trying to change their minds also made a difference with Kang Hye-seong, the crew member in charge of the passengers who used the ship’s intercom to tell them to wait.

Since previous investigations by the prosecutors and other government authorities were supposed to result in prosecution, they were limited in the amount of truth they could bring to light. But the special commission’s investigation is aimed not at prosecution but rather at finding out what exactly happened during the accident. I think that’s why we were able to get different results from before.

Hani: What part of the investigation are you watching with the most interest?

Lee: I’m most interested in learning why the Sewol ferry sank. Even the Supreme Court did not reach a clear decision about the cause for the ferry’s sinking. In the end, we’ll have to raise the body of the ferry in order to find the evidence that will reveal the cause of the sinking, which is why the investigation that happens after the ferry is raised is so important.

The timeline for raising the ferry keeps being pushed back, and recently I was even told that it might be August or September. I hope that we will be given the authority to study the hull. If that doesn’t happen, it’s very likely that the cause of the sinking will remain a mystery. Finding the truth is also a way to resolve the division in society that occurred after the tragedy.

Hani: What connection is there between learning the truth about the accident and uniting South Korean society?

Lee: At some point, communal trust in South Korean appears to have reached a nadir. Such a big ship had sunk and these young students were onboard, and if there had been communal trust then the civil servants in related government agencies ought to have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work. But it appears that, because we’ve run out of such trust, no one is willing to take responsibility and everyone is becoming apathetic.

In politics, too, the Sewol is an important national issue that we ought to be agreeing and working together on, but politicians just try to exploit it for their own ends. When people in our society attempt to do something meaningful themselves in order to find a solution to this problem, they only end up feeling frustrated. After a while, they just give up and become apathetic about people they have no connection too.

I think that, if we find a reasonable explanation for why the ferry sank and why the passengers were not rescued and share this with the public, we’ll be able to restore the trust that was lost in the Sewol tragedy. That was the role that the special commission was supposed to play, and it’s just a shame that the government was so passive about the commission’s activity. I don’t think that was deliberate, though.

Hani: Your investigation is expected to run into a snag in July, which is when you’ll run out of government funding unless the Special Sewol Law is revised.

Lee: There were already calls in the National Assembly to specify the timeframe for our activity even without revising the Special Sewol Law. All that happened was the discussion in the National Assembly came to a halt when it was suggest that the Blue House be the next target of investigation. Back then, there was a consensus that our activity should end after June. I think that the National Assembly just needs to reach an agreement on this.

For us, though, since we have funding through the end of June, we’re planning to wrap up the investigation we‘ve been given and get ready to draw up our comprehensive report in order to fulfill our responsibility. Our mission is to do our best to investigate as much as we can.

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

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