Protesters and family members of 304 victims who died one year ago in the Sewol ferry sinking stopped the planned memorial ceremony at the Government Joint Memorial in Hwarang Resort, to protest South Korea’s official response to the tragedy, the local news agency The Korea Times reports.
The attending visitors and government officials instead walked to Danwon High School, which most of the victims had attended prior to the ill-fated school trip a year ago.
Lee Jae-joung, the superintendent of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, called upon the country’s president Park Geun-hye to keep her promise of salvaging the ship to allow closure to the families of the missing victims.
The protesters also expressed their anger with the decision by president Park not to attend the ceremony, but instead visit the port of Jindo, where the bodies of the victims were initially transported.
Bloomberg reported that during the visit to the port of Jindo, president Park said that the time has come to raise the ferry, pledging to start serious preparations for the salvage of the stricken vessel.
World Maritime News Staff