Compassion: Suffering With
- clairenicea
- Dec 29, 2025
- 9 min read
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18-19
These last two months, I have had the opportunity to practice with my body and spirit, and not just with my heart and mind, compassion or "suffering with." I have witnessed the frustration and bitter hardship of waiting in the darkness, unsure of when the light will come. I have felt the winter cold surround me and even colder indifference of passersby as I hold signs in solidarity with the victims of the Stellar Daisy tragedy. I have tasted the warmth in a meal shared with the dismissed Sejong Hotel workers lovingly prepared by some nuns in the shelter of their blue tent. I have heard the sobs of a sister who will never see her younger brother again. And I have breathed in the sweet steam of hot tteok (rice cake) being shared in the street as a symbol of how Jesus fed us with his broken body. And though these are difficult places to be in, they are also where the Spirit is most alive and present, for
"The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and rescues them from all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit."
—Psalm 34:15-18
Itaewon Memorial Service - Content Warning
I returned from Thailand on October 26, and the next day, I attended a Christian memorial service to mark the third anniversary of the Itaewon Disaster, which took place on October 29, 2022. One hundred fifty-eight people died from crowd crush in a narrow alley in the neighborhood of Itaewon for a Halloween party that night. Over 100,000 people flocked to the neighborhood, and despite requests for crowd control, only 137 police officers were stationed there. The 159th victim was a 17-year-old high school student who originally survived the incident but lost his two friends in the crowd crush. Tragically, he committed suicide later that year due to PTSD.
A parent of one of the victims (also referred to as stars) shared his testimony during the service. He said that in his process of grieving and praying, he heard God say to him, "Do you think it is hard that you lost your child? How do you think I felt when I lost mine?" This helped him to connect with God's grief, comfort, and compassion, realizing that he was not alone. When I heard this, I realized that I never really imagined God grieving over Jesus' death because I was taught that God knew Jesus' would die on the cross all along. That God even approved and ordained Jesus' death on the cross. But when I heard this father's story, I knew that couldn't be true. No parent is not deeply pained at the death of their child. I wept for his family and for all of the stars' families. I wept for Jesus, and I wept for his heavenly father, God. God sent Jesus to remind us how to love one another. The consequence was being sentenced to death by those who benefitted from an unjust and unloving system. God blessed Jesus because he was doing the work of the kingdom, but it doesn't mean God wanted Jesus to die on the cross. God loves us after all, for God is love.
Afterwards, I visited the actual site of the tragedy in Itaewon. Were it not for the signs, I would not have known where it was. It is such an ordinary, unremarkable alley. After my friend showed me the location, I imagined a crowd of hundreds of people filling the narrow street. It was a haunting image. At the time of the tragedy, I was in the US, and at first, I did not take the incident seriously. It sounded like a tragic accident that couldn't have been prevented, and I felt that it paled in comparison to other wars and conflicts happening around the world that I perceived as preventable and stoppable. But after being in Korea and learning more deeply about the background and aftermath of not just this disaster but also the Sewol Ferry disaster, Muan airport disaster, and Stellar Daisy sinking disaster I have come to understand that these are not one-off tragedies but symptoms of an unjust government that has failed to protect its citizens and ensure a safe environment for everyone. Furthermore, there has been so much corruption in the covering up and off-loading of responsibility to protect those in power. I am absolutely outraged.
The worst part is that Korean friends told me that they heard their pastors and church members blaming the victims for the tragedy, saying that it happened because of their satanic devil-worship on Halloween. What a terrible thing to do, especially as Christians. One woman whose child died in the tragedy said that when she needed the support of the church and her pastor the most, they ignored her after the incident. This breaks my heart. How shameful. To honor God and God's people, we must become a church of love and compassion instead of blame and judgment.
Fellowship with the Sufferers
This month, I finally started my internship with Gonan Hamkke 고난받는 이들과 함께하는 모임 "Fellowship with the Sufferers." I have been struggling with how to describe our work in a concise way, but after these first few weeks, I would say "Fellowship with the Sufferers" sums it up pretty well. We pray and worship with those fighting for justice, such as the unfairly dismissed workers of Sejong Hotel, as well as attend court trials in solidarity with those such as the families of the victims of the Stellar Daisy Sinking Tragedy.
First Day in the Office
The card in the plant says, "Claire, it is a pleasure to work with you. We pray that your time here is meaningful."
11.13 Jeon Tae-Il Memorial Service (my co-worker preaching!), 11.20 Sewol Ferry Prayer Gathering, 12.9 my boss making a speech at the Sejong Hotel Go Jin-soo 300-Day Anniversary of fighting from on top of the traffic structure for the reinstatement of unfairly dismissed workers.
11.28 Reading scripture at our Ecumenical Advent Prayer Gathering for Gaza
11.29 Slow Run
This morning I ran the Slow Run 5k for Gonan Hamkke (Fellowship with the Sufferers), who helped organize the race. The race was held to raise awareness and support for the victims of the humidifier disinfectant accident which resulted in the death of an estimated 20,000 South Koreans and resulted in health complications such as respiratory illnesses for almost 1 million victims. It was a cold morning, but once I set out on the trail, I warmed up right away! At the beginning, I helped hold up banners by the start of the race with messages such as "The seeds of remembrance are planted through your steps" and "we create the road to justice by running it together." It was such a good feeling to encourage the runners—I could see their faces light up at the sound of our cheers. Then once most of the people had passed by, I started running with Rev. Ryu Sun-kwon and Rev. Song Ki-hoon (first picture). About mid-way, we passed by my colleagues passing out water, cucumbers, and tomatoes to keep us fueled and hydrated (second picture). Right before the finish line, I passed by my fellow YAVs still holding up the banners and cheering everyone on. That gave me a final burst of energy as I sprinted to the end. I finished the race, got a (wooden!) medal (picture 3), and had tteok (rice cake) stuffed in my mouth by an ajumma (auntie) volunteer from our booth (pictures 5, 6). Afterwards, I celebrated with Rev. Lee Dong-hwan who also ran the race along with other friends of ours (picture 6). This was my first race since I ran a half-marathon in 2020! There were still people finishing after me, so I went over to my friends to cheer on the rest of the runners. That was my favorite part. During the race, I also noticed that the staff along the trail looked a bit cold and tired, so even though I was running, I figured that they could use some encouragement as well. So I passed by shouting "Fighting!" and then they started cheering everyone on again with more energy. That's when I realized that we all need cheerleaders in our life, including and especially, those of us in professional cheerleader roles—like ministers and activists. We cannot pour from empty cups or serve with weary spirits. We must all take care of each other ❤️ 화이팅!
12.1 "Table of Solidarity" '연대의 식탁' 고난함께 후원회원의 밤
One big project I worked on was our donor event to thank our supporters from the past year. I ended up being in charge of most of the planning process from creating the menu and ordering the food to promoting the event, decorating the space, and coordinating the volunteer team. I LOVE planning events—especially parties!—so even though it was a lot of work, I had a blast. The theme of the event was "Table of Solidarity." We invited our supporters in addition to all the people we worked with throughout the year. I planned a course meal, naming each menu item after one of the causes we support. During each course, a representative from the corresponding cause gave a speech about the state of the struggle, expressed their gratitude for our solidarity, and called on us to continue fighting with them. I am most proud of the "Itaewon Star Salad" I came up with featuring sliced red cabbage and star-shaped carrots to honor the stars from the 10.29 Itaewon Disaster, represented by the colors purple and orange. The event was a huge success and even my brother came to help serve the meal!
Advent isn't Over: The Stellar Daisy Tragedy
During my work with the families of the victims of the Stellar Daisy Ship Sinking Tragedy, I realized this: for many, advent doesn't end on December 25. The darkness, the waiting, the suffering—it continues for months, years, generations. The Stellar Daisy ore carrier sank in the South Atlantic on March 31, 2017 taking with it 22 of 24 crew members. The Stellar Daisy was a Korean ship operated by Polaris Shipping, and the crew consisted of 8 Koreans and 14 Filipinos, with two of the fourteen surviving. Many of the victims' bodies have still not been recovered. On December 22, I attended the maritime tribunal arbitration second session (I'm translating this from Korean and am not a legal expert so I am not sure what the accurate English terminology is for "해양심판 2심") with the family members of one such victim. Representatives of Polaris Shipping were there and they were trying to defend themselves by saying that the company had provided training for the crew members in case of emergencies to which the lawyer of the families responded, "Are you implying that it was the crew members' fault that they failed to survive the ship sinking?" They were trying to draw attention away from the illegal and dangerous methods used to load the ship's cargo as well as the poor condition of the ship. I am still learning more about the case as I walk with the families of the victims, and I ask for your prayers as we continue fighting for justice in the courts and for improved laws that will make work safer for those in the shipping industry, preventing such tragedies from happening again.
I send my peace and prayers to you all. May 2026 be filled with more peace, faith, hope, joy, and love in our shared world.
Sources
Humidifier Disinfectant Incident:
Byeon, J., Kim, H.-S., Park, M.-Y., Lee, K.-M., Hong, M.-G., & Choi, Y.-Y. (2020). An estimation of
population at risk of exposure to humidifier disinfectant and associated health effects. Journal of Environmental Health Sciences, 46(4), 457-469. https://doi.org/10.5668/JEHS.2020.46.4.457
Itaewon Disaster:
Ji-hyoung, S. (2023, January 3). Teenage suicide officially recognized as Itaewon crowd crush death - The
Korea Herald. The Korea Herald. https://m.koreaherald.com/article/3033840
Son, C., Ham, D.-H., Jin, S., & Park, T. (2025). 158 deaths at Halloween night: An AcciMap analysis of the
2022 Itaewon crowd crush in South Korea. Safety Science, 184, 106741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106741
Stellar Daisy Sinking:
Catalogue of failures found in Stellar Daisy accident investigation report. (n.d.). Www.nautilusint.org.
News Hound. (2019, May 3). The long awaited report into the loss of Stellar Daisy is published by the
Marshall Islands. The International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS).
Yoo Cheong-mo. (2023, December 5). Tribunal says shipping company at fault for 2017 sinking of cargo ship.
Yonhap News Agency. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20231205008100315
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