‘It was hell...’ 10 years after South Korea ferry disaster

Ten years ago on Tuesday, an overloaded South Korean ferry capsized and sank, killing hundreds of schoolchildren who had been ordered to stay in their cabins even as the captain evacuated. The accident and botched rescue triggered nationwide fury. The ship’s “incompetent” crew were jailed, the wreckage of the Sewol ferry lifted, and South Korea’s then-president Park Geun-hye impeached, in part over her disastrous mishandling of the accident. But the families of victims say they still can’t move on.

Park Jeong-hwa said her daughter Cho Eun-jung wanted to be a pharmacist and loved celebrating special occasions with her family.

“Eun-jung always remembered my birthday and prepared a cake with candles,” she said. “Since she left us, we stopped celebrating our birthdays or any other special occasions because it revives those memories too much.”

People tell her that after 10 years, she should move on.

“I thought I was going to be able to do it, thinking maybe after 10 years, the pain would fade a bit. But instead, it’s even more painful now. I want to hear her voice badly so that I don’t forget. There’s this longing and emptiness.”

Kim Jong-gi’s youngest daughter, Kim Soo-jin, died when she was just 18.

“The Sewol ferry disaster took away her life so abruptly. I feel incredibly sorry that she was only able to live a very short life,” he said.

A decade on, he sees other children her age all grown up, he feels “envious” of them.

“I remember how she was when she was little, but I also keep imagining the sight of my daughter grown into an adult and achieving her dreams,” he said.

He last spoke to her when he dropped her off at school before the school trip — when her class would take the ill-fated ferry. “We arrived at the school, I handed her bag to her as I waved goodbye, wishing her a good trip on the excursion. That was the last time.”

Kim Soon-gil’s daughter Jin Yun-hee who died on the Sewol ferry had always dreamed of being an accountant, knowing her family could use the extra financial support.

A close friend of hers who was also on the boat but survived now works in an accounting firm, Ki said.“i always went to pick her up from school,” she said.

“On our way back home, I used to say: ‘let me carry your heavy bag,’ but my daughter insisted on carrying it all the way home.”