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Yongsan victims’ families reconcile

Published: 29 Jan. 2010, 21:03

Kim Kwon-chan, right, father of a policeman who died in a Yongsan fire, shakes hands with Jeon Jae-suk, left, whose husband also died in the blaze. It was a gesture of reconciliation yesterday at a hotel in Seoul. By Park Jong-keun

Family members of dead protestors and the father of a SWAT officer who also died in a fire during an eviction operation in Yongsan, central Seoul, last year, sat together for a reconciliation meeting yesterday.

“You must have had a rough year,” Kim Kwon-chan, 56, the father of the late officer Kim Nam-hun, said as he offered his hands to Jeon Jae-suk, 71.

Jeon hesitated for a moment before holding Kim’s hands tightly.

“Yes,” Jeon said. “And you had a hard year, too.”

Jeon lost her husband, Lee Sang-rim, 72, in the fire that cost six lives. The fire followed a clash between police and squatters at a redevelopment site.

Lee’s son, Lee Chung-yeon, a leader of a group of evictees from the site, received a six year jail sentence on charges of planning the occupation of the Namildang building in Yongsan.

This is the first time that the families of the Yongsan protestors and the father of the late SWAT officer sat down together and share words of consolation and forgiveness since the tragedy. The meeting at a restaurant in the Sofitel Ambassador Hotel in Jangchung-dong, central Seoul, was arranged by a local church. The church’s pastor, Choi Heon-guk, and Kim Jong-saeng, the secretary general of the church who protested with the families for compensation over the past year, initiated the meeting.

The families of the protestors finally ended 345 days of negotiations with the developer in late December over the amount of compensation for the victims. They had delayed holding funerals for the five dead protesters whose bodies were kept at Sunchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul until the two sides reached an agreement. The funeral was held on Jan. 10.

The families sat together at a table but initially looked anxious. Some said they still just cannot wash away complicated feelings. Then Kwon Myeong-suk, 48, wife of late evictee Lee Seong-su, opened up. “When I heard you [Kim Kwon-chan, the father of riot police officer] wanted to pay a visit to the funeral site, I wanted to meet you,” Kwon murmured. “But I still have victim mentality and I’m perplexed.”

The awkward mood quickly turned reconciliatory when other protestors’ families reached out to Kim Kwon-chan. “I deeply understand that you’re broken heart is just like ours because we lived in pain for a year,” said Kim Yeong-deok, 54, wife of late evictee Yang Hoi-seong. “But our stance was different. But please don’t take it to mean that we blame you [for the fire].” Kim Kwon-chan nodded. “I came all way here wishing wholeheartedly that the deceased are doing well in heaven,” Kim said. “If the meeting here went badly, I thought that could disturb the deceased. I came for reconciliation.”

Another protestor’s family member asked Kim how old his son was. Kim said, “He was 32 and he left behind a 9-year-old daughter.”

That brought on another awkward silence. Then Kim said his wife is suffering depression after their son’s death and the protestors families began sharing their own stories. “We all are getting psychiatric care. We all know you are having a hard time just like us,” another protestor’s family member said.

The families agreed to understand each other and said another Yongsan-like tragedy shouldn’t happen again. “There’s even no need for forgiveness because all bereaved families don’t have anger against an individual over the incident,” Pastor Choi Heon-guk said.

By Lim Mi-jin, Jeong Seon-eon [[email protected]]

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