hankyoreh

who have yet to be recovered from the Sewol ferry

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Park Eun-mi made her way back down to Paengmok Port on Apr. 11. It was one year since the Sewol ferry sank in the waters off Jindo in South Jeolla Province, and the 45-year-old mother wanted to be as close as she could to her daughter Heo Da-yoon, a second year student from Danwon High School who has yet to be recovered from the vessel. In the evening, Park lies down in a container box set up at the harbor. As thoughts of Da-yoon come to her, she looks, tears streaming, at the dark ocean waters where the wreckage lies submerged.

Da-yoon’s father, 51-year-old Heo Heung-hwan, has been staging a one-person protest at the National Assembly in Seoul calling for the vessel to be salvaged so his daughter can be found. Both parents have been protesting at the parliament since Feb. 26. Heo is currently undergoing treatment for a herniated disk; Park is losing hearing in her right ear from a condition known as neurofibromatosis.

“I’m on pins and needles every time the government hints that it may or may not salvage the Sewol,” Park said. “I hope they’ll please just find my daughter.”

Da-yoon’s older sister Seo-yoon, 19, attends university and works a part-time job, all while fighting for the Sewol’s salvage. It’s a brutal schedule. “How long do I have to keep doing this?” reads the status message on her account with the instant messaging service Kakao Talk. Blackie, the puppy Da-yoon had been raising, has now spent a year awaiting its owner’s return. Da-yoon’s dream had been to work as a kindergarten teacher.

Nam Kyung-won, 46, is the father of Hyeon-cheol, an only child, who was another second-year Danwon High School student. Nam and his wife have both suffered failing health while awaiting their son‘s return at Paengmok Port. The father had to undergo treatment when his chronic condition relapsed during his travels between the nearby city Mokpo and Jindo. The mother has become frail and prone to fainting. Nam keeps a daily journal to record his memories of and grief over his son.

Park Jeong-sun’s son Yeong-in was a classmate at Danwon. The 47-year-old father still has not fully recovered from the shock of his loss, and continues to await his son’s return.

Since the search of the Sewol’s hull was called off in November, many parents of missing Danwon High students have been holding one-person protests at Gwanghwamun Square or the National Assembly in Seoul to demand the salvaging of the wreckage.

Min Dong-im, 36, the wife of Go Chang-seok, 40, who was a teacher at Danwon High School, is looking after her two children and waiting anxiously for her husband to return from the school trip.

Min’s family watched sadly as she tearfully read through a statement that families of the Sewol victims presented to the press in November of last year when they allowed the search for the victims to come to an end.

Over the past year, Yoo Baek-hyeong, 54, wife of Yang Seung-jin, 57, who was also a teacher at the school, has got in the habit of loading up and looking through photos on her phone from her and her husband’s last date.

“A year has passed, but it still doesn‘t feel like this actually happened. He was such a warm and caring person,” Yoo said, her voice trailing off.

“I can’t just leave him like that in the ocean. I want to find his bones at least and bury them in a sunny spot.”

When the search of the hull of the Sewol was called off on Nov. 11, 2014, the families of the missing who had been keeping the vigil at Paengmok Harbor departed. However, Kwon Oh-bok, 61, is still waiting at the harbor for his younger brother Jae-geun, 52, and his nephew Hyeok-kyu, 6, who are both still missing.

His brother Jae-geun had bought land on Jeju Island with money he had diligently saved while working at a factory in Seoul. He and his wife, 29, his son, and his daughter, 5, were moving to the island when tragedy struck the Sewol. Only his little daughter was rescued, while his deceased wife’ body was recovered.

The 30-year-old son of Lee Yeong-suk, 51, is on Jeju Island, still waiting for his mother to return. Lee and her son had been working apart on Jeju Island and in Busan but had decided to live together on the island.

The families of the missing passengers have hung up banners in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, the site of the government memorial altar for the accident.

“How painful and scary it must be. Eun-hwa is crying. Please take her out of the Sewol.” -- the parents of Cho Eun-hwa from class no. 1 of the second year of high school

“I wish I could hug you just one more time, for the last time. I miss you, Yeong-in. I love you.” -- the parents of Park Yeong-in from class no. 6 of the second year of high school

By Kim Il-woo, staff reporter and Ahn Gwan-ok, Gwangju correspondent

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