SEGUNDO GRUPO DE ESPECIALIZACIÓN Tabla15.

Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won conducted the bulk of crisis communication representing the Park administration during the crisis. In South Korea, the Prime Minister’s office – as a representative and executive assistant to the President - is responsible for the coordination and supervision of various ministries. As such, the office of the Prime Minister acts as the logistical executive for the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, of which the National Emergency Management Agency is a part. The Prime Minister’s office directly represents the President and the administration, and in this capacity serves as the top-level office responsible for emergency management ("Organization Chart", 2013).

On the afternoon of April 16, 2014, the same day of the sinking of the ship, the Prime Minister returned from his diplomatic trip abroad and immediately called for an emergency meeting, stating that “I feel an infinite responsibility” regarding the ongoing sinking of the ship and the missing on board (Chosun Ilbo, 2014a).

The next day on April 17th, Chung visited the families of the missing gathered in southern Korea

offering words of condolence and a personal commitment, such as “I know how you feel” and “I will do my best” to find the missing. However, when the families lashed out at him, pelting him with water bottles, his words turned to repeated apology as he backed out of the auditorium: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” (Chosun Ilbo, 2014b).

These words of apology continued during his next two public appearances regarding the sinking of the ship, as he explained what was hampering the search and rescue missions: "Confusion as ministries concerned failed to share information…without coordination” (Oh, 2014a). He followed up with an apology for the confusing and scattered government communication that had occurred through various

agencies, citing a mishap in the system and stating that actions have been taken to address the issue (Yonhap News, 2014b). The day after, on the 20th, he explicitly stated that he felt “like a criminal” and that all methods for search and rescue missions will be analysed and employed (Chosun Ilbo, 2014c).

On the following day, Chung took a break from communicating his sense of responsibility as Prime Minister to praise the rescue efforts of volunteers in the crisis. This ingratiation method complemented his announcement to deem the area of the ship’s sinking to a ‘special disaster area’ to compensate the efforts of the volunteers of the search and rescue, and he asked that the volunteers “please continue to help us” as a vital asset to the operations (Chosun Ilbo, 2014d). He then acknowledged the system failure of the safety plan the day after, and vowed to restructure the existing model for better safety in the future. However, an element of conflicting apology and blame was apparent in his speech, rendering a mixed message: “a stern punishment of those responsible…I feel sorry for the confusion in the

government’s initial responses and the failure” (Oh, 2014b).

Finally, on the 27th _{of April, he gave a final speech of resignation in his address to the nation, taking full} personal responsibility for the Sewol disaster: “I apologise to the nation…my head is bowed…I believe I should take full responsibility for the tragedy…I have seen too many flaws in this system” (Prime

Minister’s Secretariat, 2014). This full apology appropriated all government responsibility and logistical operational failure personally to Chung, as he tried to spare the President of blame.

Figure 1: Crisis Communication Strategies of Prime Minister Chung Hong-won during the Sewol disaster, 16 Apr-27 Apr 2014

Date Article Name

Other Articles Citing Quote

Language Primary _Coding Secondary _Coding

16- Apr

[진도여객선침몰]

정홍원 "1분1초도 주저하지말라"

[Jindo Passenger Ship Sinking- Chung Hong-won: "Do not be idle for a single second or minute"]

“I feel an infinite responsibility.” Full Apology

17- Apr 정홍원국무총리, 세월호 피해가족에게거센 항의…물병에깡통 세례까지 [PM Chung Hong- won faced with aggressive protests from family of Sewol victims: water bottles and cans thrown]

“I know how you feel” / “I will do my best” / “I'm sorry.”

Full Apology 19- Apr (5th LD) Rescue efforts continue as death toll rises from sunken ferry

“Confusion as ministries concerned failed to share information…without coordination.” Full Apology 19- Apr <여객선침몰> 정홍원총리 "정부 발표혼선죄송" [Passenger Ship Sinking: PM Chung Hong-won 'apologise for confusing government announcement']

"I apologise for the confusion in announcements" / "From now on we have made sure that all

announcements will be made at the same time from the task force…with confirmed information." Full Apology Corrective Action 20- Apr [세월호참사] 정홍원국무총리 "죄인된심정" [Sewol ferry sinking: PM Chung Hong-won "I feel like a

criminal"]

“I feel like a criminal” / “I will analyse all method sand employ them for search and rescue.”

Full Apology 21- Apr [세월호참사] 鄭총리, '자원봉사' 진도군민에사의 표시

[Sewol ferry sinking: PM Chung expresses thanks to volunteers of Jindo]

To the volunteers: “Your effort is contributing enormously to the search and rescue effort” / “The government has designated the area as 'special disaster area' to

compensate for the efforts” / “Please continue to help us.”

22- Apr

PM vows safety master plan to prevent deadly disaster

"Learning a lesson from the tragedy, the government will come up with an innovative safety master plan" / "A stern punishment of those

responsible" / "I feel sorry for the confusion in the government's initial responses and the failure..."

Corrective Action Full Apology; some elements of Blame 27- Apr 국무총리 기자회견문

[Prime Minister Press Conference] Yonhap News – English (27- Apr); Chosun Ilbo – Korean (27-Apr)

"I apologise to the nation" / "My head is bowed" / "I believe I should take full responsibility for the tragedy" / "I have seen too many flaws in this system."

Full Apology

Corrective Action

Given analysis of all of the above, we see that out of the eight (8) crisis communication conducted over a 12-day period, six (6) of those fell under Full Apology, and one (1) each under Ingratiation and

Corrective Action. Applying the findings to the model, we can conclude that the framing strategy that Chung engaged in was Crisis as Threat, as all coding falls under this frame.

According to Boin et. al (2009), the Crisis as Threat frame is used to defend the incumbent office holders of the status quo against criticism – in this case, the office of Chung and his policies. It is interesting to find that the government immediately took responsibility for the crisis instead, although the initial cause of the incident was due to the fault of Cheonghaejin Marine Company. Upon further inspection, we see that Chung did not differentiate public opinion from responsibility for the crisis itself, to responsibility for emergency response; his first public words were “I feel an infinite responsibility” without specifications on what he felt responsible for (Chosun Ilbo, 2014a). Thus the discourse quickly focused on the fault of the government, and specifically the Office of the Prime Minister, and his consistency in using the Full Apology strategy served to strengthen the discourse.

There was also no strong statement of attribution of fault to the private company during the initial framing. By the time Chung finally deemed an external actor as the responsible party on April 22 – “a stern punishment of those responsible” – it was already past the crucial time frame to attribute

information given on the operational aspects of the crisis, perhaps further questioning the knowledge and credibility of the Prime Minister.