South Korea is a nation in mourning, sharing the unfathomable grief of parents who lost their teenage children on what should have been a festive school trip. It is a nation experiencing collective depression, where many are tormented by the heartbreaking and endless grim news about the students who should never have died. Around the globe the Sewol ferry tragedy forces us to imagine what it must be like as a parent to have your drowned child's mobile phone returned and to discover pictures and videos of their last fearful moments. One is at a loss for words thinking of the mothers and fathers who received final phone messages from their children expressing love and alarm as the ferry tilted further and further toward oblivion.
A bereaved nation is also angry, outraged and disillusioned. The nation failed its children and that inescapable conclusion is a damning indictment. How could such a thing have happened and who is to blame? Many Koreans express feelings of collective guilt, but they also want those in authority to take responsibility. The ferry disaster is a "Made in Korea" tragedy, including a botched coast guard rescue and recovery effort, dissemination of misleading information and signs of coverup. As a result, Prime Minister Chong Hong-won resigned in order to take responsibility, a gesture that attracted further scorn.
From the outside it is hard to understand why President Park Geun-hye is also being blamed, but the grief and rage has ignited the kindling of discontent in society and, like a wind-whipped forest fire raging out of control, it consumes everything in its unpredictable path. She is the fixer-in-chief in a nation where everyone suspects the fix is in. One South Korean told me that she is seen to be cold and aloof, not connecting with the people on a human level, desperately trying to contain the political fallout, but lacking empathy. She is not acting like the healer-in-chief for a traumatized nation in despair, perhaps expecting more than she can possibly deliver. It is a defining moment of her presidency and so far not a shining one. Redemption is still possible, but unlikely in a nation that is unforgiving of its "leaders" lapses. The long knives are out as opportunists seek political advantage.