In the fountain square facing the Blue House in Jongno-gu, Seoul, there are people who talk to the president in a last resort. One of them is the family members of the Sewol ferry disaster, who expected that the Moon Jae-in administration would no longer have to appear on the streets.
The families of the Sewol ferry disaster lit up candles again from the evening of the 25th. On the 19th, after a year and two months of investigation by the Prosecutors’ Sewol ferry disaster special investigation team, △External pressure from the Blue House and the Ministry of Justice △Inspection of the survivors of the security officer and the National Intelligence Service Work became a catalyst.
On this evening, in front of the Cheongwoon-Hyoja Community Center, which was the front line of’Park Geun-hye’s Blue House’, candles were erected on the streets about 500m away from the fountain square in front of the Blue House Sarangchae. Yoo Gyeong-geun, who has been called’Yeeun Dad’ for the 7th year after losing her daughter in the tragedy, handed a camera and expressed gratitude to the family and citizens who had been with him.
“It’s a very small light,” Yoo Gyeong-geun said while conducting a Facebook live, “I hope this light will once again serve as an opportunity for our request to be delivered to the Blue House.” He said, “It would be nice to hold a real candle, but it is not allowed in the Blue House fountain square. It is difficult to understand the view of a candle as just a flammable or dangerous substance.” The bereaved families said, “You can bring the LED candle or related LED supplies used during the Candlelight Revolution.”
Candle lit again in front of the Blue House fountain, “It’s all about coming here”
The one-person protest by Jeon In-sook of’Kyungbin’s mother’, which began in November last year, exceeded 440 days on the 25th. Chun learned after six years that his son, who was thought to have been loaded onto a helicopter, was actually transferred to the hospital after 4 hours and 40 minutes by boat. From that day on, the time in front of the Blue House, which came out recklessly, has been over a year. The special prosecution team determined that the suspicion of abandonment of the rescue of Kyungbin Army was also not suspicious. Mr. Jeon, who met with a reporter at the agricultural growth in front of the fountain, dropped his head, saying, “President Moon Jae-in was elected in a situation where it was difficult to get into here during the Park Geun-hye administration.
“In 2014, the prosecution announced. ‘The Sewol was an accident and nothing happened’. At that time, Gyeongbin said that he had come out by helicopter. Those people (the prosecution) said they would investigate the truth, but it would have been difficult to overturn what they said first. Is that easy? I think it will be difficult. In this situation, if the Blue House is willing to reveal the truth of the Sewol ferry, a word mixed with the will of the President is really desperate. I thought I had to do something, so I came to myself. I had the belief that I had to be here to speak out, and that I would find it.”
In August 2017, the first year of his inauguration, President Moon invited the bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster to the Blue House Guest House. In a place where it was difficult to determine where the Blue House was, the bereaved families, who had been blocked each time, walked into the front gate of the Blue House for the first time. At that time, the family thanked the president, saying, “The Blue House door could be opened so easily, but I was unhappy and thought of why it took so long for a long time. However, in the winter of 2021, the family’s visit was barely tied to the blue house. On the 22nd, there was a shaving ceremony for the bereaved family.
While the president’s silence was prolonged, there have been several visits by the Blue House staff. Kim Je-nam, well-known chief of civil society, and former chief civil society chief Kim Geo-seong. Jeon said, “Every time I came, I said the same story. ‘Believe and wait’. It was a nuance that if you go home and wait, you will find out the truth. After hearing that for the first time, I have been in front of the fountain for 3 years. There is no change in the phrase.” At the end of last year, there was an expectation that a message would come out even at the level of the senior civil society, not the president, but he was also a “Hope Advisor”. Mr. Jeon expressed his disappointment, saying, “Every time I came from the Blue House, I said,’The president couldn’t come out, but he expressed his will.’
Mr. Jeon also said he was frustrated about the situation where the bereaved family seemed to be stubborn while making unreasonable demands.
“According to special means, even if he went to the hospital (by taking a helicopter), he was less likely to be alive, so he was dismissed. That’s not the answer I want. It raises the question of why the rescue attack took place and why the Coast Guard took such measures in such a situation, and is talking to them as if I had claimed to them that I had’deliberately killed a living child’. I hate to imagine such a thing. I hope that we will continue to review the issues we have wanted and talked about so that we can find out what we want until the end and whether the managers are not responding.”
I asked President Moon what kind of answers he would like to hear. “I hope you can give us some answers, whether we want or don’t want to answer.”
“If the Special Investigation Committee on Social Disasters (Correspondents) has been extended and works to find out the facts, why not call relevant people for records or statements? There will be many cases that don’t come out saying’I’m having a hard time because of the corona’ or’I’m not feeling well’. At least, I hope the President empowers me to think,’If the chief of staff tells me to come, I have to go.’ I sent my son twice. On April 16, 2014, I had a hard time without thinking, and watching the video of my son in 2019, I sent my son in a really difficult situation. In this regime, will even the parents say,’Stay still’?”
Kim Jin-sook, who had been fired for 35 years, after anti-cancer, also visited the Blue House
Beside the three or four steps from the Sewol ferry’s agricultural growth, there are people calling for the reinstatement of Kim Jin-sook, the leader of the Busan Headquarters of the Trade Unions Federation. Poet Song Gyeong-dong, who is fasting for the 35th day on this day, looked at the agricultural growth of the Sewol ferry and said, “Where are the people who raised democracy in Korean society so neglected? There is no human rights consciousness of the Moon Jae-in administration at all,” he said. “Isn’t the Moon Jae-in administration a government established through the candlelight revolution?”
Leader Kim Jin-sook has been dismissed for 35 years since 1986. In 1981, he joined Korea Shipbuilding Corporation, the predecessor of Hanjin Heavy Industries, as the first female welder in Korea. I became a representative of the labor union in an effort to resolve anti-human rights discrimination against field workers. The contents of the delegates’ meetings were summarized and notified to fellow union members, criticized for the union’s use, and a great deal was posted. On the way to work in May 1986, in the Grand Officer’s office, where he was taken without knowing the English language, he was tortured on a’chilseong plate’ that was placed under a body in a coffin. This is the place where Park Jong-cheol lost his life. Whenever Kim was dragged out of the office, the company transferred him to another location. Eventually, the company managers prevented him from going to work, and Kim Jin-sook was fired for reasons such as absenteeism.
The Deliberation Committee on Rehabilitation and Compensation for Democratic People Related to the Democratization Movement recommended reinstatement, saying that Kim was unfairly fired twice in 2009 and 2020. However, Hanjin Heavy Industries is holding on saying that if Kim reinstated him because he lost in the dismissal song and gave him a severance pay, it would be’replacement’. It is a ruling that was confirmed by Kim Jin-suk, who did not know what the concept of’appeal’ was. The Korea Development Bank, a legal manager of Hanjin Heavy Industries, has also turned away from requests for reinstatement.
Kim’s cancer recurred while the public authority turned away from responsibility. Perhaps the last walking struggle began in Busan on December 30 last year. The fasting campaign in front of the Blue House fountain began on the 22nd of the same month. The procession in Busan, including leader Kim, is expected to arrive in front of the Blue House on the 7th of next month, but it is unclear whether the fasting will continue until then.
Poet Song and Father Seo Young-seop in front of the fountain, 5 people including Poet Song and Father Seo Young-seop, co-operating committee chairman Seong Mi-seon, Green Party activist Kim Woo, activist for the right-finding union, and Jeong Hong-hyung, senior vice-president of the support branch of the metals union, cut off the music. On the 25th, the 35th day of fasting, 798 citizens from all over the country entered solidarity fasting. However, fasting in front of the fountain without a tent is reaching its limit. Green hospital medical staff, who checked the health status of fasting protesters last week, said it was time to end fasting. Poet Song, who met with a reporter while continuing a precarious fast, said with strength, “What more facts should I check and what more should I add?” for Kim’s reinstatement.
“Common sense, this is impossible. Not only the Democratization Committee, but the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, unprecedentedly, issued a recommendation for reinstatement through agreement between the opposition parties. The Busan City Council, where Hanjin Heavy Industries is located, also issued a call for a resolution to reinstate through the agreement of all parties. Hanjin is a company operated under the guidelines of Sangeun, the main creditor. Saneun is a 100% state-owned bank, and President Lee Dong-geol was also appointed by the President. As a state-owned bank, the state agency reconfirmed that it was unfairly dismissed and issued a recommendation for reinstatement. The bigger problem is that the current president, the Blue House, the government, and members of the National Assembly are in fact cooperating with the positions of the Bank of Korea and Hanjin Heavy Industries.”
Poet Song described the Korean society in which Kim was neglected as a dismissal as “a rebuttal of the history of excluding the minimum rights and interests of workers, and politicians standing together on the side of companies to suppress the three labor rights guaranteed by the constitution.” .
“In 1991, Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction was almost killed by the public power of Park Chang-soo. In 2003, when the envoy Kim Joo-ik protested unfair layoffs, it was also the public power that issued an arrest warrant and pressured them to catch the protesters. All of them were the heads of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction. Kim Jin-sook suffered more than 35 years of fighting for unfair dismissal and fighting for democracy and the rights of workers. That’s why so many of these people walk together, fast and fight like this.”
In a recent debate, leader Kim said the reason for going to the Blue House. “A lot of people asked. Why are you going to the Blue House? I want to see President Moon Jae-in’s eyes again. I would like to check that the gaze that shouted over the dictatorship while drinking tear gas in ’87 in ’86 in ’86, and the look that fought together in the streets to find out the truth of the death of Chairman Park Chang-soo in ’91, and once again. He told me to fight until the end, until I win, and to fight until I return to work. How long should I fight?”
Poet Song commented on Kim’s remarks, “I am not petitioning the President, who was once the motive of the democratization movement in the past, to solve his problem. “I am asking if you and I have the heart or spirit that we talked about for democracy and equal peace in this land in those harsh days?” “If it’s a real’labor-respecting’ government, you’re asking if you’re doing politics to correct at least social justice.”
Until now, the Blue House’s unofficial position is’a labor-management issue. There is nothing that can be done’. Poet Song raised his voice, saying, “The reason for dismissing Kim Jin-suk itself is violence caused by the state’s public authority, and the person who fired him by the state.” He said, “Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction has met almost all requirements regarding the reinstatement of the dismissal, and said,’Kim Jin-suk is not the only one.’ A government official said,’The Kyung Chong and the FKI are against the reinstatement of Kim Jin-sook. In 2011, there was a struggle that risked Kim Jin-suk’s life to lead the rehabilitation of 97 layoffs by the Hope Bus. Whenever that happened, Kim Jin-sook delayed his reinstatement.”
During the interview, Poet Song caught someone and sat in front of the reporter saying, “Please listen to the story.” He is an old friend of Park Moon-jin, a health care union leader, and Kim Jin-sook, who struggles every day in front of the fountain. Leader Park recalled Jin-sook Kim, who had been walking from Busan to Yeungnam University Medical Center for himself in 2019. Park, who was fired from Yeungnam University Medical Center in 2007, climbed the rooftop of a 74m hospital on July 1, 2019. At that time, high altitude enrichment was the last resort. Yeungnam Academy, which owns a medical center, and its owner, Park Geun-hye, did 3,000 times in front of the house of the then presidential candidate, but to no avail. Kim Jin-sook, who came to the right place, also joined the reinstatement site after 13 years.
“It was when Comrade Kim Jin-suk was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery. Because of the extreme popularity and depression, I rarely went outside. But as my struggle was getting longer, people were astonished when I started with a fan in Busan. It seemed to me that I had been hit hard. Back then, because it was an old cell phone, it didn’t even have a gps function, but the executives went to Busan to find Comrade Kim, but they couldn’t contact each other, so they couldn’t meet each other, and come back… .”
Leader Park said, “Kim Jin-suk, the most symbolic of the labor movement history, has only started his struggle after 35 years.” “There is not a long way left to lead the sick body to the Blue House. I hope that citizens will take a lot of vacations and participate in Kim Jin-suk’s hopeless path. I hope that we will make the path of life, the path of workers, and liberation, not just the path to walk.”
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