The death of a student survivor of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster has renewed attention on the long-term suffering carried by those who lived through the tragedy.
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On June 21, 2026 (KST), Yoo Gyoung Geun, former executive committee chairman of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Families Association, shared news of the survivor’s passing through a post on Threads titled, “Why Do They Have To Live For Their Friends Too?”
According to him, the survivor had experienced severe pain in the years following the disaster.
Why Do They Have To Live For Their Friends Too?
Sohee, who had tried several times to follow her friends amid extreme pain right after the Sewol ferry disaster, has ultimately gone to be beside her friends at Ansan Haneul Park. Many people mourned together. A few days ago was also the memorial day of diver Kim Kwan Hong. I hope people do not forget that not only the victims who were killed and their bereaved families, but also the surviving students and civilian divers, are victims too.
There is something I want to say.
I think people say this out of sorrow, and out of the hope that they will live well: “You have to live on for the friends who left first.”
But this is something you should not say.
The surviving students came back alive with great difficulty after directly watching their friends die. Just because they were the ones who survived, they were met with cold looks and became trapped in guilt, making it difficult for them to even get through their daily lives, let alone dream. In many cases, their own lives have already been ruined.
Telling those surviving students that they have to live for the friends who left first goes beyond secondary harm. It is a horrifying form of violence, almost close to murder.
— Yoo Gyoung Geun
Yoo Gyoung Geun then urged people to allow survivors to simply live without guilt.
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So I hope people won’t say things like this so easily.
I just hope they don’t hurt in body or mind, and especially that they don’t feel things like guilt. I just hope they can live normally, just like everyone else. Living like everyone else, living an ordinary life, is such a difficult thing. Maybe it is something impossible.
Seeing the news of another friend leaving, and thinking of the surviving students who may still be hiding and suffering… I feel so deeply sorry.
— Yoo Gyoung Geun
Following the post, many online commenters expressed sorrow and offered condolences. Some wrote, “May they rest in peace,” while others reflected on the weight of survivor’s guilt and the pain that may remain invisible to those outside the tragedy.
- “Man… I can’t even fathom how hard it must have been for them. Rest in peace. I really hope they find peace.”
- “Rest in peace.”
- “Rest in peace.”
- “It must have been so heartbreaking… I can’t even imagine. Rest in peace.”
- “Time must have stopped for them in 2014 and they never moved forward. I hope they can rest in peace now.”
- “RIP.”
- “I hope they’re at peace now.”
- “Rest in peace… Those of us who haven’t experienced it will never get to understand what they went through.”
The Sewol ferry disaster occurred on April 16, 2014, when the ferry Sewol sank off the coast near Jindo, South Jeolla Province, while traveling from Incheon to Jeju. Of the 476 people on board, 172 survived, while 304 people died or remain missing.
More than a decade later, Yoo Gyoung Geun’s message has drawn attention to the fact that the damage caused by the disaster did not end with the sinking itself. For many survivors, bereaved families, and civilian divers, the pain has continued long after the public’s attention moved elsewhere.
Read more about the Sewol ferry disaster here:
On The Anniversary Of The Sewol Ferry Incident, Families Share Their Stories Of Grief
Source: The Joongang and theqoo