Jeong Seok-woong, Jeonnam Superintendent of Education, Visits Paengmok Port to Commemorate the 6th Anniversary of the Sewol Ferry Tragedy

Jeong Seok-woong, Superintendent of Education of Jeonnam, held a memorial service at Paengmok Port on the 16th to mark the 6th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster. (Photo by Jeonnam Office of Education)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Jang Seok-woong, Superintendent of Education of Jeonnam, held a memorial time at Paengmok Port to mark the 6th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster.

According to the Jeonnam Office of Education on the 16th, Superintendent Jang Seok-woong visited Paengmok Port in Jindo to console the families of the Sewol victims, offered a moment of silent tribute, and commemorated the children who became flowers six years ago with a yellow ribbon inscribed with the phrase “Overcome Sewol with empathy and solidarity.”

This 6th anniversary memorial for the Sewol ferry disaster has been scaled down considering the ongoing online school openings due to COVID-19, and the Office of Education and the Education Support Offices are conducting small-scale events.

Since the 9th, the Office of Education has placed two memorial trees made of birch wood at the first-floor entrance of the building, adorned with yellow ribbons to commemorate the students who blossomed like flowers, and 22 city and county education support offices, including the Jindo Education Support Office, have held separate events.

They also visited the “Forest of Memory,” established with a 50 million won donation from Sean Hepburn Ferrer, the late Audrey Hepburn’s son and a film producer, and held a time of remembrance.

The Forest of Memory, completed on April 9, 2016, consoles the wounded by engraving the names of 304 victims on the sculpture “Wall of Memory,” and ginkgo trees that turn yellow every autumn are planted there to commemorate the Sewol victims.

Although this memorial event was scaled down due to COVID-19, the Office of Education continues efforts to remember the children through online educational programs, and plans to strengthen programs within the curriculum that help students grow with civic awareness and practice.

Superintendent Jang Seok-woong said, “Since the Sewol ferry disaster, the spirit of empathy and cooperation has been engraved in all our hearts, and it has become the strength and driving force to overcome the current COVID-19 crisis. Based on this, let us achieve education that values human life and happiness rather than money and capital, education that fosters self-directed individuals, and education full of cooperation, respect, and consideration.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.