Missing crew’s mothers beg to meet survivors

PYEONGTAEK, Gyeonggi - The mothers of 45 sailors believed to have been trapped inside the sunken patrol ship Cheonan yesterday pleaded with the Navy to meet with survivors of the tragedy.

“We’re not jealous of the officers who made it out of the sunken ship. We don’t hate them,” a group of some 20 mothers said in a press briefing yesterday at the Second Naval Fleet base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi. “We just want them to tell us stories about how our sons were doing in the Navy.”

“My son was very proud of being a Navy officer,” said Hong Su-hyang, mother of missing Sgt. Kim Dong-jin. “I’m grateful that some of the officers survived. I guess my son was adored by his superiors, and I really want to hear from survivors what my son was like when he was aboard the ship.”

The women said it was heartbreaking to ask the Navy to call off the search for the missing sailors, but after Warrant Officer Han Joo-ho lost his life in a dive they didn’t want to risk any more victims.

The families had been scheduled to meet with survivors today at a press briefing at Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, but they do not want to meet them in front of the media.

By Kim Mi-ju, Park Sung-woo [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]