One of the students who survived the Sewol ferry disaster was recently found dead, as reported on the 23rd. It is about 12 years since the disaster occurred.
Yu Gyeong-geun, former executive Chairperson of the Sewol ferry disaster families' council, conveyed the news in a post on the 21st on personal social media (SNS) titled "Why do I have to live for my friends too."
Yu said, "A, who tried several times to follow friends in the immediate aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster amid excruciating pain, has finally gone to be by their friends."
Yu added, "I hope people do not forget that not only the victims who were killed and the bereaved families but also the surviving students and civilian divers are the same victims."
The former Chairperson said, "Out of sorrow, out of a wish that they live well, people seem to say, 'You must live hard for the share of the friends who went first,'" adding, "It is something that should not be said."
He said, "The surviving students have struggled to live while watching their friends die," and added, "Just because I alone returned alive, I have received cold stares, and crushed by guilt, it is hard even to get through daily life, let alone dream."
He said, "In most cases, even their own lives have already become a mess, and telling such surviving students that they must live for the share of the friends who went first is violence close to murder, beyond secondary victimization."
The former Chairperson said, "I would just like (the surviving students) not to be in pain in body or mind, and especially not to carry things like guilt, and simply to live ordinarily like others."
He said, "I feel truly very sorry when I think of the surviving students who are likely still hiding and hurting as they look at the friend who has left."