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4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society and the 4/16 Network hold a press conference in front of the Blue House voicing their opposition to the special pardon granted to former President Park Geun-hye on Monday morning. The sign held up (front) reads: "Park Geun-hye is a criminal who did not save 304 lives." (Kim Tae-hyeong/The Hankyoreh)

Families who lost loved ones in the Sewol ferry tragedy appeared in front of the Blue House on Monday, where they voiced their opposition to the special pardon that was granted to former President Park Geun-hye, who was in power at the time of the disaster.

Kang Ji-eun, the mother of a Danwon High School student who perished in the sinking ship said, “How is it that someone who didn’t even feel responsible [for the Sewol ferry disaster] can be pardoned so unilaterally on Christmas Eve — a day we should have been able to spend with our children?”

“Every time I remember how my son Sang-jun called out to me, ‘Mom, mom’ I miss him so much that I feel like I’m losing my mind. How could they be talking about a pardon, or rehabilitation [for Park Geun-hye]?” she continued.

The groups 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society and the 4/16 Network, along with other groups such as MINBYUN—Lawyers for a Democratic Society and the Sewol Ferry Task Force, gathered in front of the Blue House for a press conference Monday, where they said that “in a situation where there has been no fact-finding or punishment of those responsible in regard to the absence of a control tower and the Blue House’s negligence, it is utterly absurd to pardon Park Geun-hye.”

An association of bereaved families who lost loved ones in the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014 and the 4/16 Network hold a press conference in front of the Blue House voicing their opposition to the special pardon granted to former President Park Geun-hye on Monday morning. The sign on the right reads: "We have waited 5 years. Why are you releasing Park Geun-hye when there have been no fact-finding efforts? Call off Park Geun-hye's pardon."(Kim Tae-hyeong/The Hankyoreh)

They called the pardon “a step backward for the candlelight revolution” and a “destruction of the spirit of the times.”

Despite the below-freezing temperature that day, 37 members of bereaved families gathered in front of the Blue House wearing yellow padded jackets, hats and gloves.

Kang Ji-eun, who led the press conference, said, “After seven years of trying to uncover the truth [of the Sewol ferry disaster], what has come of the punishments?”

“How can we forgive someone who doesn’t even feel guilty?” she said in tears.

Kim Jong-ki, chairman of the steering committee of the 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society, said, “If [the government] is concerned about [Park Geun-hye’s] health, why is it not concerned with the mental anguish of the 17 million citizens who marched holding candles in the freezing cold?”

“Where on earth did they get the idea that pardoning Park Geun-hye would result in national unity? How can there be national unity when citizens are being disregarded?” Kim asked. “The bereaved families, who have already died once when we lost our children, must not be killed once more through this pardon.”

The bereaved families delivered a letter of protest to the Blue House after the press conference.

Roughly 1,000 civic and labor organizations, including the Korean Federation of Trade Unions and People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, hold a press conference in front of the Blue House voicing their opposition to the special pardon granted to former President Park Geun-hye on Monday morning. (Kim Tae-hyeong/The Hankyoreh)

By Park Ji-yeong, staff reporter

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