Sewol tragedy victims' families outraged that memorial site honoring the dead may be removed

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The issue of restoring the remembrance classroom to a classroom for regular use at Danwon High School has sparked a controversy that has come to light in the media.�

The controversy resurfaced when the Gyoenggi-do Office of Education announced their intention to relocate the memorial site, prompting the surviving family members of Sewol Tragedy's victims to come forward once again to state that they will not attend the graduation ceremony meant to the honor the deceased, instead reaffirming their previous stance on preserving the memorial site.

The 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society proclaimed Wednesday through a press release titled 'Our thoughts regarding the Danwon High School Classroom,' "We cannot make any compromises concerning the '416 classroom' until Danwon High initiates a new education system by allowing the Sewol tragedy to serve as a lesson."�

Regarding the honorary graduation ceremony to be held on January 12, the organization stated, "There are still teachers and children who have not returned so we cannot have our children graduate first. We will not be attending the ceremony which enforces erasing the memories of those lost in the tragedy."�

The organization further asserted, "The school is repeating the same mistake it made at the time of the tragedy. They must deliberate, study, and find a new education system to implement and how to go about implementing it."�

At these demands, the school finally decided on January 6 to hold the regular graduation ceremony as was originally planned but cancel the honorary graduation ceremony for its deceased students.�

Last September, the organization had recommended that the school construct another building to accommodate the enrollees for the new semester and preserve the memorial site by cutting it off from the rest of the school.�

In response, the Office of Education had suggested the plan to temporarily move the memorial site to a publicly owned property in front of the school.�

The two sides have continued their negotiations without reaching any conclusive terms.�

However, with the new semester fast-approaching and 300 new students to accommodate, Danwon High is in need of more seats, including the seats in the classroom that is currently being used as a memorial site. But certain radical groups and the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union have demanded the preservation of the classroom as a memorial site.�

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The�4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society suggested, "You can cut the number of new enrollees and solve the issue of insufficient number of seats with a realistic approach."�

The suggestion was rejected by the Office of Education on the grounds that the deadline for the application process has already passed; hence, the amount of enrollees already accepted cannot be adjusted.�

Which side do you stand on?

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