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Two university students (Shin Eun-ji, left and Lim Hye-rim, right) who are behind the idea for a Sewol “memorial of memory” to honor victims of the ferry sinking pose with yellow ribbons next to Jeon In-suk, a mother of one of the students who died in the tragedy. The photo was taken prior to a commemorative event on the fourth anniversary of the sinking.
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Aim is to create a “memorial of memory” that can honor the victims of the sinking
“I think that never forgetting the Sewol tragedy is something that the Apr. 16 Generation should do. At the least, we ought to remember them until the victims’ families say the truth has been established.” Lim Hye-rim, 22, and Shin Eun-ji, 20, call themselves the “Apr. 16 Generation,” which refers to the date when the Sewol ferry went down. Since the two women were in the first and third year of high school at the time of the tragedy in 2014, they were probably dealing with the same issues as the high school students and other victims who were trapped on the capsized ship. This commonality has magnified the pain and shock of the tragedy. On Jan. 19, these members of the “Apr. 16 Generation” created a planning team for a project to build a “memorial of memory” for the Sewol tragedy. Their goal is to refresh people’s memory about the pain of the Sewol and comfort the victims’ families with the thought that someone is standing with them. Since its launch, the planning team has been working on a project to build the “first memorial of memory for the Sewol tragedy” at Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul. The name “memorial of memory” is intended to bring together people’s memories of the tragedy. “People who are the same age as the students who lost their lives remember this as a tragedy that happened to their friends. We wanted to bring together their vivid memories and use that as leverage for getting answers [beyond what has already been clearly established] about the Sewol tragedy,” said Kim Yu-jin, head of the project’s operations team. Lim and Shin became interested in this project because they felt the need for a symbol that would remind people of the Sewol tragedy. Shin had been on her school’s student council at the time of the tragedy, and she had a Sewol memorial wristband created and distributed to members of the student body. After being admitted to university in 2015, Lim was a constant presence at events with the victims’ families for two years and took photographs and videos of those events. “I thought that people were able to come together about the comfort women issue because there are actual comfort women statues. I shot videos because of my commitment not to forget the Sewol tragedy, and I’m taking part in the construction of the memorial of memory for the same reason,” Lim said. Lim and Shin have been raising money through fundraisers at universities and major neighborhoods in Seoul such as Gwanghwamun and Daehangno, making sketches for the construction of the memorial of memory and discussing a permit for installing the memorial with the city of Seoul and other related government offices. But the team did not reach its goal of building the first memorial of memory by the fourth anniversary of the Sewol sinking. “Once we started it, we realized that the memorial of memory installation project would take a lot of time. It wasn’t easy to design the memorial or choose where it should go,” said Lim. The planning team wrapped up its operations on Apr. 6. After the memorial service for the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, Lim, Shin, other members of the planning team and university students who have recently joined them will be continuing the project to build the memorial as part of a club called “Connecting Memories.” During a gathering of university students on the fourth anniversary of the Sewol tragedy that will be held at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on the afternoon of Apr. 14, the club members are planning to unveil a sketch of the memorial of memory based on discussions at the planning team over the past three months. They said the sketch is designed to honor the 304 victims and remember the struggle by victims’ families and ordinary people to bring the truth to light. “I hope that seeing the memorial of memory will cause more people to join the Apr. 16 Generation and work to find the undiscovered truth about the Sewol tragedy,” Shin said. “I think the victims’ families have laid the foundation for making this country safe. I think the Apr. 16 Generation needs to build on that foundation, and that means we must not forget the Sewol tragedy,” said Lim. Shin and Lim are boldly speaking up to keep the memory alive. By Choi Min-young, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
