Beyond the Sewol

Abstract

On the evening of 15 April 2014, the Sewol Ferry set sail on its overnight journey from Incheon, in the North West of South Korea, to Jeju Island, 240 miles to the south. There were 476 people on board — 443 passengers, including 325 students and their teachers from Danwon High School. On the morning of 16 April, near Jindo Island, the ship made a sharp turn. According to the Automatic Identification System data, the ship veered, lost control, began drifting sideways and then capsized. The captain and crew were first to abandon the ship, after repeatedly telling the passengers to stay where they were. Over the next two hours, 172 passengers and crew were rescued, but many more were trapped inside as the ship sank. In total, 304 passengers were killed, including 250 of the high school students. Despite international outrage, there has not yet been a comprehensive investigation of what caused the Sewol to sink and why the passengers were not rescued promptly.

The South Korean government's handling of the wreckage evoked public outrage as the government tried to evade culpability and hastily close the investigation. This tragedy became a turning point in South Korean history. Through this incident, the public began to question issues of community, education, government, law and violence in South Korea. Such cultural and political conditions might have created the urgency for artists to express their opinions and mourn the victims through performance. This essay examines how theatre troupe Yellow Ribbon's Living and Dying Next Door, the creation of commemorative classrooms and Jayoung Chung's Empathy commemorate and mourn the Sewol victims, and analyzes how such performances constitute interventions in public discourse that contribute to social change.

Notes

1 For Korean names, this study uses the original convention of placing the surname before the given name with the exception of figures who prefer to render their names with surname last or who are well known by the reverse order. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from Korean to English are my own.

2 The research on Jayoung Chung’s Empathy was supported by the Asia Culture Center, Korea (ACC-2018-RF-15).