After the 3rd Hearing of the Sewol Ferry Disaster
-After the 3rd Hearing of the Sewol Ferry Disaster
By Myungju Lee
The third hearing of the Special Investigation Commission on 4.16 Sewol Ferry Disaster, held on Sep 2-3, was able to make certain progress in spite of the government's persistent effort to discourage its work. Since the Park administration forcefully ended the Special Investigation Commission (hereafter the Commission)'s investigation period as of June 30, the Commission has suffered significant financial shortage and brain drain.
Since July the Commission has not been able to pay its employees; even the place they had signed contract for the third hearing was subjected to outside pressure that they had to find another place. Moreover, the Ministry of the Oceans and Fisheries made an official announcement against the Commission that the third hearing had no legal basis as the Commission's investigation period had already terminated. It technically provided the related officials with an excuse not to be present at the hearing. As a result, the majority of the key witnesses whom the Commission had asked to appear did not show up.
Farce by the Coast Guard
Nevertheless, the Commission was able to shed light on the lies that the Coast Guard told during the rescue operation two and a half years ago. For instance, on the third day of the accident, the Coast Guard officially announced that they successfully pumped air into the dining hall area of the capsized ferry; on the assumption that there were air pockets inside, they continued to do so for three days.
According to the Commission's work with the Coast Guard's TRS (Trunked Radio System) record, however, the Coast Guard pumped air into a random place where access was easier. Furthermore, unlike the Coast Guard's saying, a recent computer simulation proved that pumping air was pointless as there was little chance for air pocket to exist. Worse yet, the hose they used to pump air was only 19mm in diameter connected to a small-sized compressor using noxious industrial oil.
The Commission accused the government's rescue strategy for delaying the actual rescue work. In other words, they insisted the wasted 'golden time' should have been used to actively save the trapped passengers.
Another TRS record analyzed by the Commission exposed that the Coast Guard's rescue operation was nothing more than a farce created to report to the Blue House. The voice record revealed that the Ministry of Oceans deployed four 1000-ton naval vessels equipped with ENG (Electronic News Gathering) cameras in order to live-broadcast the air pumping scene for the Blue House to watch. Audiences, mostly victims' families, at the hearing cried out as they were told about the truth of the "show".
Lies and Cover-ups to Hide Failure
The Coast Guard's announcement regarding the successful deployment of underwater robots (ROV: Remotely Operated Vehicle) was also proven to be false. According to the TRS analysis, one of the robots was malfunctioning while the other got lost. The Coast Guard, however, had announced the robots made a successful entry to the hull for search work.
"So far, we were only given an access to 7164 TRS files. Even with these, we were able to expose the lies the Coast Guard has been telling the public. There exist more than 1 million such files. Even if the Commission gets dismissed after Sep 30, a special prosecutor must be appointed to investigate every single TRS file. These records are key to finding truth of the disaster," said standing commissioners.
In addition, new allegation for spoliation of evidence was raised as the Commission found out that the CCTV inside the ferry was actually playing for longer time on the day of the accident than the record remaining in the retrieved DVR (digital video recording, a storage device for CCTV records). This incongruity between the DVR's record and several witnesses' testimony on the CCTV may suggest a possible deletion of recorded material.
Another critical problem brought into light during the third hearing involved the Blue House' interference with media. Kim Si-Gon, a former newsroom chief of KBS (a Korean national public broadcaster), showed up at the hearing, to give testimony on how the Blue House made orders to the KBS newsroom to distort fact on the disaster.
One salvaging expert, who wished to speak behind curtain, told that the additional 34 holes the Ministry of Oceans is planning to puncture on the hull are not only unnecessary but also dangerous as they could destroy the ship at all. The government's plan to separate the passenger section of the ferry from the rest in order to recover remaining bodies was also severely criticized. The Commission warned that the separation would not only damage and destroy the evidence but also it would betray the government's initial promise to salvage the ship in one complete piece.
"Galapagos" Blue House
The hearing, in which none of the key witnesses responsible for the failed rescue showed up, mirrored the sheer reality of the current regime: how it is indifferent, incapable, and unaccountable. Depraved indifference at the top tier of the government is almost paralyzing a general moral sense of the society.
The current regime might be waiting until the pain to be numbed and the memory to be faded. The pain, however, is still so acute and real that the victims' families had to close their eyes and cover their ears with hands whenever audiovisual material was played for reference. Their desperate wishes are rather simple though: "to know the reason why my child had to be left to die in the cold water while there was plenty of time to rescue" and "to prevent another victim like us by building a safer society." For these causes, they carried out a hunger strike until Sep 5. Two fathers' fasting even lasted for twenty days. Yet, the government did not budge.
Many are calling the Blue House "a Galapagos island", mocking its seeming isolation from the rest of the suffering society. Now is the time to "force quit" the "Galapagos show" of the government. The show has to be ended in order for ordinary people to live in a sensible and safe society where people are put before profit and power.
At the end of the third hearing, Park Bo-Na, sister of a victim, stood up and made a tearful appeal. "I heard this could be the last hearing, thus my last chance to speak out, as the Special Commission may no longer exist after September. But nothing has been resolved yet. For these families, every single day was like living a nightmare. Should the truth be sunk with the ship forever, I don't know how to live the rest of my life. Please help save the Special Commission. Please help it would not be the last hearing."
If Korean society decides to let go of the Special Commission and push the Sewol tragedy into oblivion now, its sickening disregard for human life will only deteriorate. In order to stop the government's attempt to "force quit" the Special Commission, the National Assembly must revise the Special Act first to prolong the Commission's investigation period. Victims' families and caring citizens are worried that the "golden time" to save the Commission is running out.