[imText1]On March 26, 2010 at a location around 2.5km south of Baekryeong Island, the Cheonan, which was on guard duty at the time, suddenly broke into two pieces and sank along with 46 members of the ROK Navy.
In the coming days, whenever a soldier’s body was found by the investigation team, their family collapsed and the people of South Korea felt deep anguish.
Now, one year later, how have the bereaved families eased their pain and sorrow? Lee Jeong Kuk, the former head of Cheonan Missing Soldiers’ Family Association, talked about their lives and the incident to The Daily NK.
Since he had to take care of so much on the behalf of the families of the dead, Lee, the brother-in-law of Sergeant Choi Jeong Hwan, who perished that day, had to quit his job.
Now, he has started working again as a part time lecturer at Gyeonggi Women’s Development Center, with an even stronger determination to live well.
However, the Cheonan incident left deep scars. “How can I forget it?” Lee told The Daily NK, lowering his head. “If I, his brother-in-law, feel like that, how must my parents-in-law and wife feel? Whenever they feel the absence of Jeong Hwan, they shed endless tears.”
Now, as an advisor to the Family Association, Lee says the bereaved families are very grateful that the South Korean people have an interest in the Cheonan. However, he adds that at the same time attention is becoming a big burden for them because it reminds them of their sad memories.
Either way, he says, “Please, although you may forget the soldiers who used to be on it, don’t forget the Cheonan,” adding that if the Cheonan can be used to elevate a sense of national security and lead the government to working hard to avoid a recurrence, the sacrifices of the 46 sailors who died will not have been in vain.
The bitterest memory, Lee says, is that some people have continued to advocate for the North Korean regime even after the truth of the incident has been revealed.
“Have those who protest about Key Resolve gone to Imjingak to call for an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons developments or provocations? If they want peace and reconciliation, they have to demand it from both sides, North and South. Why do they criticize only the South? They are the people who are misusing the freedom of speech offered by a free democracy.”
To those who are suspicious about the Cheonan incident, he said, “At least once, go and look directly at the wreckage of the broken Cheonan at 2nd Fleet Headquarters in Pyongtaek. If not by a torpedo, how could it have been torn to pieces?”
However, he also pointed to the Lee administration’s faults, saying, “In the beginning, the Minister of National Defense excluded the likelihood of a North Korean attack. Having done that, they said that it was done by North Korea, so the people couldn’t help being confused. The contents of the government’s announcement were changed and TOD video footage was also edited and so on. Such acts look likely to have raised the distrust of the people.”
As a family member of a victim, Lee says he does not feel any hatred toward such people, but says, “Only the government, which made people incapable of believing its announcement, is the problem.”
In conclusion, Lee also left a message for the other families of the Cheonan victims, “I hope they live the rest of their lives happily and in a worthwhile way, so that their deceased sons can be happy and can hear that Cheonan victim families are surely better than the rest.”
