Last month there were a lot of memorial events and happenings on the mainland. But what was it like in Jeju? There was a memorial ceremony at April 16th at the Jeju International Passenger Terminal’s public square organized by Jeju Self-Governing Provincial Office of education. At seven p.m. the same day a memorial themed ‘salvage the truth’ was held near the city hall. The people attending this memorial marched the streets holding candles from the City Hall to Tapdong. A group made up of Jeju-NU students called ‘Jeju Yellow Umbrella’ marched from Jeju-NU’s main entrance to the City Hall while appealing to others ‘do not forget the Sewol Ferry tragedy’. While the memorials at Jeju were very silent and passive there was a great uproar in Seoul.

Gwanghwamun Gate in central Seoul, the main gate to Gyeongbok Palace, was firmly shut down on Friday afternoon April 17th. At the entrance, surrounded by a crowd of police officers members and a few dozen relatives of the victims of Sewolwere chanting in protest to the government. They voiced their grief and frustration over what they feel has been a lack of action on the government’s part to rectify a devastating tragedy.

“Last night, the police blocked all the sidewalks in the Gwanghwamun area and treated the relatives of the victims like public enemies,” one of the victims’ family members said in a press conference held at the gate that day. Citizens and family members of the deceased who tried to get to the memorial ceremony at Gwanghwamun Square were blocked by the illegal obstacles set up by the police. The scene followed a fierce protest from the evening before that continued overnight. According to police, about 10,000 people took part in a memorial ceremony held at Seoul Square in the city’s central district to mark the anniversary of the sinking.