[Editorial] What has changed since the ferry tragedy?

A memorial service for the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking was held at Hwarang Public Garden in Ansan, where 261 victims of Danwon High School were laid to rest. Political leaders attended the ceremony marking the 9th anniversary of the worst maritime tragedy, which claimed the lives of 304 passengers on board, mostly pupils on a school trip.

Korean society still lives in guilt for failing to rescue hundreds of high school students drowning in the sea. We had repented our safety negligence for overlooking the corporate greed of keeping up with the overload on the cruise ship despite the danger. But our society has not improved much in terms of safety awareness.

In October last year, 159 young people died on Halloween in Itaewon, Seoul. Before the deadly crowd crush took place, people in the neighborhood made a rush of calls to the police to report dangerous signs. But police help was insufficient, just like the Sewol crew who advised passengers to stay put. None of the leadership in the police and the ministry in charge have taken liability for the tragedy.

The government stumbled to take measures only after overcrowding at the Gimpo Goldline caused passengers to collapse with symptoms similar to the Itaewon crowd crush despite repeated warnings about safety since September 2019. Although congestion of the subway — the sole underground transport means for 500,000 people living in the city — exceeds 200 percent, the operator said it cannot add trains before September next year. The unmanned train kept on running even when a passenger fainted in December last year, just two months after the Itaewon crowd crush. The transport minister and Seoul mayor held an emergency meeting only after casualties increased.

Authorities have been trotting out makeshift measures such as increasing buses or manually controlling passengers boarding the train. The ideas make us wonder if they were really thought out. Seoul has revisited the idea of deploying amphibious buses to cross the Han River it had chucked away on safety grounds. How can the city think people would trust their lives with such transport after the sinking of an amphibious military tank? Kim Dong-yeon, Gyeonggi governor, had visited the base for trains on the Gimpo Goldline while running as a candidate for the Democratic Party but has yet to come up with a feasible solution.

The collapse of Jeongja Bridge over a stream in Seongnam, south of Seoul, in April is the latest proof that the public safety level of the country remains alarmingly low. Rivaling parties must devise measures that can effectively protect public safety. It is the only way authorities can atone for the loss of hundreds of lives nine years ago.