Vilifying the victims: The politics of failing Sewol in Korea

This thesis explores three failures of the South Korean government in addressing the Sewol Ferry case and the processes in which vilification of victim's family took place in South Korea. The first failure of the government in the initial stage of Sewol Ferry sink results from the lack of the governmental procedure regarding the rescue work and the domination of media to manipulate the public attitudes through controlling dissemination of information. Secondly, the government failed to respond appropriately to the reactions and demands of the victim's families and pro-victim's families civil group. Lastly, the government used the anti-communism ideology, which historically has deep-roots in the South Korean society by means of the media, to cover the intrinsic problems arising due to irresponsibility of the government. The government vilified victim's families and framed their demands to represent communistic values, far left from their original figure and demands, to stir up anti-communism actions among public to cover up its failures. For further study regarding the Sewol Ferry case, this thesis will contribute in building a new narrative of the Sewol Ferry tragedy. An existing narrative focused on the political ideology rather than on intrinsic problems and the narratives of victims. Therefore, a new narrative should include the real stance of the victim's families instead of vilified images and the clear subject of the responsibility.