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Kaori Nemoto

I didn’t know what to say when we met the families of the victims of the Itaewon “10/29” Disaster. I felt that I wanted to somehow share the burden of their grief with them and remember their family and friends. It hurts knowing that this is the same generation that faced the Sewol Ferry Disaster. In some ways, tragedy will always occur, but how that tragedy takes place and how we respond to tragedy encapsulates the sincerity of the human spirit. In both the case of the Itaewon disaster and the Sampoong Department Store Collapse, there was so much that could’ve been done to prevent so many lives from being lost through safety regulations and more consideration of human lives rather than valuing efficiency or productivity. When the state risks civilian lives and plays with the possibility of death with the self-reassurance that “since XYZ happened, nobody’s gotten hurt, so it’s still okay,” and becomes complacent with this attitude, tragedy becomes an act of violence. So little has been done since these lives were lost.


When we visited the Jeon Tae-il Foundation later on in the day and took the time to remember South Korea’s labor movements, it was a reminder that change requires pointed societal action that immortalizes the deaths of victims against these “acts of violence.” Political activism requires not only that individuals rise up to the occasion or make sacrifices on behalf of society but that these individuals are remembered and shared.



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