Jeju Air: Families attacked online after South Korea plane crash

Last December, a plane crash in South Korea orphaned Park Geun-woo. The 22-year-old was still reeling from the loss of his parents when he was confronted with a barrage of online abuse, conspiracy theories, and malicious jokes targeting the victims.

The Jeju Air flight, returning from Bangkok, Thailand, crash-landed at Muan International Airport on December 29, exploding after hitting a concrete barrier at the end of the runway, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

Police investigations have identified and arrested eight individuals accused of posting derogatory and defamatory comments online. These comments included insinuations that the victims' families were "happy" to receive compensation from the authorities, or that they were "fake victims," to the point where some had to prove they had lost loved ones. Authorities have removed at least 427 such posts.

But this is not the first time bereaved families in South Korea have been targeted by online abuse. Experts told the BBC that economic hardship, financial envy, and social issues such as cutthroat competition are fueling hate speech. Following the 2022 Seoul Halloween crowd crush, victims and their families were similarly defamed. A photo of a father who lost his son in the incident was doctored by hate groups to show him laughing after receiving compensation.

The families of victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster (a maritime accident that killed 304 people, most of whom were students) have also been targets of hate speech for years. The tragedy led to the government paying an average of 420 million won (approximately $292,840 USD; £231,686 GBP) in compensation per victim, sparking comments claiming the figure was outrageously high.

Koo Jeong-woo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University, told The Korea Herald: "Those who struggle to make ends meet every day think the compensation is overvalued and say the victims' families are being 'unfairly treated,' and that they are making a fuss when everyone's lives are difficult."

Professor Koo later told the BBC that economic pressures and a fiercely competitive job market, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, have left many feeling socially isolated, exacerbating the problem of hate speech. He said many South Koreans now "no longer see others as companions, but as rivals," suggesting a pervasive culture of comparison in South Korea.

"We tend to make a lot of comparisons... if you put others down, it's easier to feel superior," he told the BBC. "That's why Korea has a bit of a tendency to make hate speech or make derogatory remarks that are intended to put others down to lift themselves up."

Mr. Park said that the families of the Jeju Air crash victims have been described as "parasites who squander the nation's money." He cited as an example a recent article about an emergency relief fund of three million won (approximately $2,055 USD; £1,632 GBP) raised for the victims through donations, which was met with a flood of malicious comments, many of which falsely implied that the funds used taxpayer money.

"It looks like the families of the Muan airport victims have hit the jackpot. They must be secretly happy," one comment read. Mr. Park said these comments were "overwhelming." "Even if we receive accident compensation, how can we feel like we can squander it when we think about the cost of our loved ones' lives?" he said. "Every single comment stabs us deeply. We are not here to make money."

"Too many people, instead of being sensitive, build their entertainment on the pain of others," he added. "When something like this happens, they denigrate it and make hate speech."

Joshua Uyheng, a psychology professor in the Philippines who researches online hate, said that hatred is often "directed at people who we think are getting some kind of advantage at our expense." "We feel hatred when we perceive ourselves to be at a disadvantage."

In the case of the Jeju Air crash, political dynamics only made things worse. The accident occurred during a period of political turmoil in South Korea, as the country was recovering from the shock of suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol's decision to issue martial law, an event that politically divided the country.

Many supporters of President Yoon Suk-yeol's right-wing People Power Party blamed the crash on the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) without evidence, arguing that Muan Airport was originally built as a political promise by the DP. "The Muan Airport tragedy is a man-made disaster caused by the Democratic Party," one comment on YouTube read. Another described it as "100% the fault" of the party.

Park Han-shin, whose younger brother died in the crash, said he was accused of being a member of the Democratic Party and a "fake bereaved family member." The claims were so widespread that his daughter appealed on social media for people to stop spreading the rumors. "It is so painful to see my father, after experiencing such a tragic event, being labeled as a 'fraud.' I am also worried that this misinformation may lead my father to make the wrong choice out of despair," she wrote on Threads two days after the incident.

Park Han-shin said he was shocked that people seemed to "enjoy exploiting the pain of others." "That's not something human beings should do," he told the BBC. "I'm just an ordinary citizen. I'm not here to participate in politics. I'm here to find out the truth about my brother's death."

While there is no perfect solution to the problem of hate, experts say social media companies should develop policies on what constitutes hate speech and moderate content posted on their platforms accordingly. "Online users should be able to smoothly report malicious posts and comments, and platform companies must actively remove such content," Professor Koo said. He added that law enforcement agencies should also hold perpetrators accountable.

Professor Uyheng said that reminding people of their shared identity could also help. "The less people feel like they are on opposite sides of a zero-sum game, perhaps the more they can feel that tragedies like this are a shared concern for all of us - that the victims deserve sympathy and compassion, not abuse and condemnation."