Upon learning about the Gwangju Uprising and visiting the site, I felt a deep sense of sadness and empathy for the victims and their families. The events that occurred in Gwangju were a tragic and brutal reminder of the human capacity for violence and oppression. The visit to the site was a powerful and emotional experience, as I was able tot see firsthand the physical and emotional scars left behind by the violence. After watching the movie “The Taxi Driver” it also added another layer of understanding to the events, as it gave me a glimpse into the personal experiences of those who lived and participated in the uprising. Overall, the visit to Gwangju and my exposure to the movie left behind a deep respect for the victims and their commitment to human rights and social justice.
As we met with family members, the Sewol Ferry incident became really emphasized as we observed the impact the sinking of the Sewol Ferry had on the families and immediate community. Personally I got really emotional and could not hold myself together when I saw the ages of the students in accident with all their faces and names of the students who passed away. After like maybe 20 students in I kind of just started breaking down because they are people are people my age who did not deserve to die and whose lives were taken away because of lack of concern and lack of emergency respond, as the students were told to stay on the ship when it was already sinking and the captains who had gave them those orders were the ones that had indeed rescued themselves first. To me walking into their high school and seeing just the enormous amounts of picture frames, goals, and memories made me feel really heavy. Seeing the things they left behind and seeing families are still in search of closure of what happened and why it happened and due to some corruption that those that information has been withheld gave me emotions that were new to me, never felt. The foundations we visited that day were very eye opening and informative to the situation of the foundation and the incident. I also found that information of the new regime audit very interesting because the government does not support these foundations but try to control them, so this becomes an issue. Many officials have tried controlling and cutting the budgets of these foundations like Jong Tae-Il foundation.
The Itaewon person we ran into was also quite an experience because as an individual he was verbally attacking our tour guide, disrespecting the families and sites, and the overal way it is to be remembered which I found really uncomfortable and kind of maddening. Being able to witness this made me find the distinctions between dark tourism. The link with modernization and these incidents is also a big factor in its regular reoccurrence and the victims have been therefore abandoned by their society and government. Just as the foundations mentioned many locals see these places of remembrance or human disaster as a place of bad luck, in which one must not go but it brings us back to the point of remembrance for the purpose of education so people’s voices are heard and things like this will not occur again.
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