@article{ART003251518},
author={Heeseon Kim},
title={A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster},
journal={The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea},
issn={1226-4822},
year={2025},
volume={33},
number={3},
pages={139-169}
TY - JOUR
AU - Heeseon Kim
TI - A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster
JO - The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea
PY - 2025
VL - 33
IS - 3
PB - The Sociolinguistic Society Of Korea
SP - 139
EP - 169
SN - 1226-4822
AB - This study examines how trauma victims of the Sewol Ferry disaster were selectively represented in the Chosun Ilbo, a major conservative daily newspaper in South Korea. Using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, it analyzes 44 news texts collected from 2014 to 2024, focusing on the strategies of naming, grammatical choice, and intertextuality. The findings show that the coverage consistently foregrounded “Danwon High School students” as the central symbol of public grief, while ordinary passengers, divers, rescue workers, and surviving families were often marginalized or depicted only in functional roles. Such discursive practices created implicit hierarchies of suffering in which some victims’ pain was recognized and remembered, while others were backgrounded or forgotten. Moreover, the reports frequently reframed trauma through psychological or medical discourse, reducing it to treatment and recovery, and diverting attention away from questions of structural responsibility. Intertextual links with later disasters, such as the Itaewon crowd crush, further recontextualized Sewol as part of generational trauma and collective memory. These results suggest that trauma recovery is not merely an individual or clinical matter but also shaped by how victims are socially represented and emotionally positioned within public discourse.
KW - Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA);victim representation;media discourse;emotional hierarchy;social trauma
DO -
UR -
ER -
Heeseon Kim. (2025). A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 33(3), 139-169.
Heeseon Kim. 2025, "A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster", The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, vol.33, no.3 pp.139-169.
Heeseon Kim "A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster" The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 33.3 pp.139-169 (2025) : 139.
Heeseon Kim. A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster. 2025; 33(3), 139-169.
Heeseon Kim. "A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster" The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 33, no.3 (2025) : 139-169.
Heeseon Kim. A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 33(3), 139-169.
Heeseon Kim. A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea. 2025; 33(3) 139-169.
Heeseon Kim. A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster. 2025; 33(3), 139-169.
Heeseon Kim. "A study on the representation of victims in media discourse on the trauma of the Sewol ferry disaster" The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 33, no.3 (2025) : 139-169.
