“I Can’t Forget Those Eyes”: Witnessing, Testimony, and the Ethics of Memory in Sewol Ferry Literature

The Sewol Ferry disaster on April 16, 2014, remains a pivotal moment of trauma in South Korea, claiming 304 lives, most of them high school students.Sewol Ferry literature emerges as a powerful medium to process collective grief and preserve the memory of victims, emphasizing the ethical obligation to never forget.Through the recurring motif of "eyes," literature portrays survivors' moral duty to bear witness to the tragedy, transforming personal trauma into collective responsibility for justice.Takhwan Kim's works, such as It's a Lie, The Beautiful One is Human capture the profound psychological toll on divers and victims' families, shedding light on societal failures and calls for accountability.His narratives intertwine testimony, memory, and inquiry to critique systemic negligence.By blending human stories with ethical imperatives, Sewol Ferry literature transcends historical documentation, urging readers to engage in moral reckoning and sustaining the victims' voices against societal amnesia.