A civic group holds a memorial service on April 16, 2023, for the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking at a port in Mokpo, 309 kilometers southwest of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Memorial services and events marking the ninth anniversary of the sinking of the Sewol ferry, one of South Korea’s worst maritime disasters, were held across the country Sunday.
The Sewol ferry went down in waters off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014.
The death toll came to 304, including 261 second-year students and teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who were on a field trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.
A memorial service drew around 100 people at a port in Mokpo, 309 kilometers southwest of Seoul, where the rusted wreck of the Sewol ferry was placed.
A siren was sounded at 4:16 p.m. to commemorate the victims of the maritime tragedy nine years ago on this day.
“Let’s protect each other, love each other and long for the lost souls in order to prevent such pain from being repeated and so that the victims’ sacrifices do not end up becoming meaningless,” Lee Yoon-ha, a senior student at the nearby Mokpo Hyein Girls’ High School, said at the event.
Yellow ribbons tied by mourners for the victims of the 2014 deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry wave in the wind on April 16, 2023, at a port in Mokpo, 309 kilometers southwest of Seoul, where the wreck of the retrieved ship was put in place, as the country held its ninth memorial service for the victims. (Yonhap)
A separate ceremony was held at Hwarang Public Garden in Ansan, 29 kilometers south of Seoul, with the attendance of about 2,000 government officials, bereaved family members and citizens.
Heads of key political parties, Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan and Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun were among the participants.
After a one-minute memorial siren and a silent prayer, Cho and other dignitaries delivered addresses, followed by a memorial performance, the reading of a memorial poem and a choir performance of a memorial song.
Cho promised to do his best to “make the country safer by carving the painful scars” left from the Sewol disaster in his heart.
Another memorial event was held at Incheon Family Park in Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, attended by around 200 people, including Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and other city and central government officials.
(Yonhap)
