Last December, a Jeju Air plane flying from Thailand's capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and 6 crew members crashed while landing at Muan Airport in South Korea. 179 people including 4 crew members died in the accident.
Out of six crew members, two cabin crew in the last seat of the plane were rescued alive. It was announced that compensation will be provided to the family members of the deceased. However, compensation for victims has sparked negative comments and hatred in South Korea.
After the Jeju Air plane crash at Muan International Airport, hateful comments and misinformation about the accident victims and the victims' families have started to spread . After the Jeju Air plane crash, negative comments and misinformation started spreading online targeting the victims and their families.
In social media and online platforms, insulting comments to the victim's family and false details about the accident have been spread . There are many comments like 'victim families are happy to get compensation'. A 30-year-old man was arrested for making negative comments.
'Those whose houses have lost their lives in the accident are very happy,' the man commented. In the same way, insulting things such as "The victimized family gets money, why should they be sad", "Pilot wants to be a hero" were written.
Similarly, wrong information was spread about 'cabin crew'. False information was spread that both 'pilot' and 'copilot' were women. Based on the same information, misogynist comments came on social media saying that the accident happened because she was a woman. But both the pilot and co-pilot of the plane were men .
Regional discrimination is already rampant in South Korea. Especially between Jeolla and Gyeongsang province, there is extreme discrimination . Muan International Airport is located in Jeolla Province. There was a possibility that an accident occurred in Muan in Jeolla.
That's why the accident was named 'December 29 Jeju Air Plane Crash' instead of 'Muan Crash'. According to the Ministry of Transport, the name Muan Kyras has helped spread negativity in the Jeolla area.
In Korea, incidents of hateful comments on victims and victims' families have also happened in the past. Negative and insulting comments were made to the families of the victims in the 'Soul accident' and the 'Itawan crowd accident'.
According to a study, 41 of the 46 defamation cases related to the Seoul disaster were convicted. Similarly, 17 defamation cases related to the Itawan accident were referred by the police to the prosecutor.
Ku Jong Woo, a professor of sociology at Sankawankwan University, said that this type of behavior is spread due to the lack of empathy in society . "Increasing dissatisfaction and isolation among people gives rise to such a strange and extreme reaction". In this way, the intention is to make others pay attention to themselves,' he said.
According to South Korean law, people who post defamatory or defamatory content online can face charges such as 'defamation of the deceased', 'insult' or 'disruption of business' . In retrospect, punishments have generally been minimal.
For example, a person who posted a modified poster insulting the families of the victims of the Seoul accident was only fined 1 million won (680 dollars) . Similarly, the person who made insulting comments on the Itawan accident victims in the 'chat room' was acquitted in both the first and second hearings.
Thus, spreading hate online not only causes legal problems, but also causes psychological trauma to the victim's family . Makes the pain worse. Lim Myong-ho, professor of psychology at Dankuk University, says that caution should be taken to prevent such damage.
"Distribution of information from obscure sources should be done in a way that does not cause further harm to victims," Lim said. Experts warn that fake news and hateful comments not only add to the pain of victims, but also encourage public distrust and division during times of national crisis.
