Comments on: The Sewol Ferry Tragedy in Korea

By: JSY

JSY — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 01:30:00 +0000

well, i agree a part of your point of double standards. However, I’ve guessed why entertainers are so cautious with the words. 1, they are rely on their program rating. 2, the most of any media audience in Korea are Korean. 3, 3 big Korean Broadcasting companies used to be controlled by the government except 1998~2003 and 2003~2008 year of administration. 4, Entertainers used to have 2 faces. one for themselves, one for camera. 5, The Big mother fucker like PSY doesn’t really care to promote his new song and i can’t hear anybody hates him, in other words, no one give shit probably. 6, noisy marketing or hitchhiking. 7, Maybe they hope this land to be better and stronger and more justice and more happy before to be in another innocent victims of massacre like the Sewol ferry 4/16, Sampoung department 6/29, 5/18 Gwangju, 4/19, 4/3 Jeju… P.S. I admire of your compassion. because i don’t cry about it.

By: jeeyoona

jeeyoona — Thu, 15 May 2014 17:28:00 +0000

Hi. I am so glad you posted this.
I am a Korean native, with Korean passport,
but having been raised abroad, and being an ENTP,
I find it excruciating to hear of all the missteps and corruptions on a daily basis.

I’ve changed news channel from Naver News to JTBC.
My NT brain just suffers from having to tolerate all the stupefying
procedural stuff going on right now.

The more details I hear about how the ferry crew, company,
maritime police, and ministry of fishery and ocerans,
the more heart burns I get.

All this, with our tax money.
It just feels like this is not even a proper country to me.
There is no honesty.
There is no system.

On top of all this, there are the politicians,
using the tragedy to leverage their status in their June 4th election.

It angers me that all this while,
the government’s high ranking officers were using our tax money
building golf courses,
using our tax money to buy 3 expensive equipments that ALL managed to NOT function during the crisis,
the rule bendings that went on…

The false reports on numerous steps of the way…
I don’t know how those people sleep at night.

By: Hua Alderson

Hua Alderson — Thu, 15 May 2014 00:24:00 +0000

OK, I want to comment on this one because yes, I am looking for it.

First, about the captain. He fled the ship (along with most of the crew) and left the passages to die. I almost hate to say this but I am not surprised. Nowadays you expect to see such cowards in critical situation. In Sichuan earthquake 2008 a teacher abandoned his students and fled for his own life and guess what? Many people defended him saying that he had every right to flee away (you hear me right). It says tons about the low moral standards in fast developing countries like Korea and China where money is king and nothing else matters.

Talking about the divers, my husband saw the news that the relatives of the victims attacking coastal guards and he asked why did they do that? I guess deep down many people in Asia don’t consider rescue workers equal member of society and treat them very cold-hardheartedly. Again, after Sichuan earthquake many people angrily cursed the rescue workers even though they were doing an extremely dangerous job and some sacrificed their lives saving others.

The incidence is a huge tragedy and now we know it is more man-made than anything else. I doubt how many more ships in Korea (and China) have the same risks. People cut corners to make more profits. I guess this is the price they have to pay.

By: Hyeon Joo Lee

Hyeon Joo Lee — Tue, 13 May 2014 09:10:00 +0000

I don’t agree with your opinion abt people’s attitides towards the divers. It’s negligence of the government what people have been angry for. The dead diver wasn’t a full time worker and both the government and his employer have been refusing any payment for compensation over his death. This is only a flake of the story.

By: Virginia

Virginia — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 01:49:00 +0000

Appreciate your balanced article. Appreciate your taking the time really. So very saddened by it all. Yes, life does go on, but there is always a cloud now that won’t go away until all of the children and other passengers are removed and laid to rest. I go online/ BBC especially, every day, and even though its not quite “front page” these days, I search it to get updates. Please, continue to take good care of your mental and emotional health as well. The load of sadness can really take a toll. There are many, many here in the US with heavy hearts.

By: Jocelyn Eikenburg

Jocelyn Eikenburg — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 06:11:00 +0000

I can totally understand how you both feel about it. It is also major news here in China, leading pretty much every news report, and the stories that ware coming out are just truly saddening. Thank you for the update.

By: dewaanifordrama

dewaanifordrama — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 04:55:00 +0000

In reply to Nic (MyKoreanHusband). I pray for peace to come to the hearts of those parents. It is something that perhaps they will never fully recover from, but I hope in time they can find some measure of happiness. I hope that you and Hugh can also find some peaceful healing away from all the emotional stress. And I hope that Korea as a whole can try and find a way to address wrongs, but do so in a way that doesn't bring more hurt to everyone. My thought are with you all there in Korea.

By: Nic (MyKoreanHusband)

Nic (MyKoreanHusband) — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 03:08:00 +0000

In reply to dewaanifordrama. I have been extremely distressed by it all. Hugh has been so stressed, even in his sleep he tosses and turns when usually he is a heavy sleeper. I'm so sad about the loss of lives but also feel stress from being emotionally manipulated now...

By: Misty McComas

Misty McComas — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 01:27:00 +0000

I worked at a television station during 9/11. It took weeks to go back to normal programming and even then, comedians and late night tv hosts had to be very careful. Radio stations quit playing certain songs and cable channels had a slide of a candle or a flag expressing condolences and asked people to watch the news channels. 9/11 was a larger area and there was hope for survivors for a couple of weeks and there was new information coming out each day, but I’m sure a tragedy like this that involved so many children will effect Korea for a very long time and may even effect programming and promotions for a little while longer (even if they finish recovering everyone within the next week or two). I think when something happens in a country, that country’s news will report more rumors because the news channels are competing for viewers and the reporters are swept up in their own emotions. Other countries, more removed from the tragedy, will continue to report with double checked sources and have a different audience who would not be very forgiving of reporting unconfirmed facts.

By: Turner Wright

Turner Wright — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:40:00 +0000

This is more in tune with what I was searching for, that is, the reaction from the ground rather than that overblown by the international media.