Politics and bureaucracy blindfold truth

Kim Min-hoo
The author is a lawyer who took part in the special investigation committee on the Sewol ferry and other social disasters.

The Supreme Court earlier this month confirmed the acquittal of the senior ranks of the Korea Coast Guard for the liability over the deaths from the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry that killed mostly high school students on their way to Jeju Island. The final judgment nearly 10 years after the tragedy failed to clarify the role of the coast guard in the face of a sinking ship whose captain fled to save himself without giving an order to abandon ship. The horrific crowd crush during last year’s Halloween festivities in Itaewon also remains unanswered as to who should have done what to prevent the deaths of 159 people.

Why do these sad sights continue in our society? Society goes in an uproar whenever a terrible disaster takes place. Streets are deluged with protest rallies and cries and banners demanding presidential impeachment. The law enforcement authority forms a special investigation headquarters to track down and identify people to arrest while the media frantically rolls out an abundance of reports.

But after much storm, nothing seems to have changed. We must coolly reflect on whether we had wasted our valuable social capital and resources in the wrong places. It is painful to see the repeated failures in truth-finding and preventing the recurrence of major accidents causing massive casualties.

The wiser people already know the answer. First of all, we must identify and boldly check the forces who would politically exploit tragedies and suffering. We must keep in mind that young deaths and the wretchedness of their families could be abused by some others for their political interests and power gain. We need to filter out misleading comments by some lawyers who appear on TV and radio and deliver messages that confuse the public over the authenticity of their arguments.

Secondly, we must suspect that someone who is really responsible for the incident could be quietly hiding behind the bureaucratic organization. The opposition and civilian groups went after Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, a close friend of President Yoon Suk Yeol, over the liability for the deaths in Itaewon, but the Constitutional Court unanimously cleared Lee’s name from their move to impeach the minister.

While social energy is engrossed and spent on heated political issue, the people in the bureaucratic organization liable for the affair could have erased or fabricated the truth. The governing power which reacts strongly against accusations in fear of negative public opinion becomes their guardian. It has happened before and will continue. The public must keep a close watch on the bureaucracy hiding behind the government organization.

There is one more thing I had learned while serving as a member of the special investigation committee on the Sewol ferry and other social disasters and a special committee on the Itaewon disaster of the Korea Bar Association. Instead of placing top priority on getting to the bottom of the disaster, they were more out to exploit the tragedy for political purposes or organizational selfishness.

Sadly, our society gave into these malicious forces. The media and public also failed to override them. Instead of investigating and asking who is responsible for what and the cause of the disaster, the question of supporting Park Geun-hye or Moon Jae-in — or Yoon Suk Yeol or Lee Jae-myung — prevailed.

Election triumph and the fight over taking credit for the win overwhelmed fact-finding. I was appalled by some other members on the fact-finding committee. Before the investigative process began, they already made the conclusion based on their own needs.

Lee Jung-min, right, the representative of the association of the families of the victims from the deadly Itaewon crowd crush, speaks in a meeting on April 20 with opposition lawmakers to propose a special act on finding the truth behind the tragedy.

Wise people must abandon these forces. Instead of weighing what political force helps the wellbeing of my family or the organization we are affiliated to, we must pay heed to the voices trying to find the truth and answer.

We must push away misleading forces who try to deceive citizens and victims and make them fools. We must decipher whether the government organization is trying to avoid responsibility and defend itself or endeavoring to restore order and trust with self-correction. We could find relief in the sadness if people mourning and sympathizing with the sudden deaths of loved ones unite for the reasonable goal of finding the truth behind social disasters and devise preventive actions.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.