The government has come under fire after it was found to have mailed physical examination notices for military conscription to victims killed or missing from the Sewol ferry sinking nearly two years ago. 

The Military Manpower Administration sent the letters on Jan. 6 to 92 male students of Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Most of them were not formally registered as deceased because their bodies had not yet been found or the families were still grieving.

They were among 305 who were found dead or remain missing from the April 2014 disaster. Had they survived and remained physically able, they would have recently turned 19 years old and been subject to compulsory military service of about two years.

The dispatch provoked renewed anger and sorrow not only among the bereaved families, but also many citizens, as the government had until now been giving special consideration to the victims' families and survivors, such as allowing them to delay their service or exempt them from training.

After an enraged father posted a photo of the notice on Facebook last week, social media flooded with criticism over the government’s insensitivity and administrative mishaps.

“How could they could not have bothered to confirm my son’s death? The bureaucracy is so speedy and effective only for this kind of thing,” an Ansan resident surnamed Kim wrote last Thursday on Facebook, attaching the flyer sent to his deceased son. 

Another family member surnamed Ha said a day before: “I’d kept thinking until yesterday that I should collect myself and let it go. ... Then again this turned everything upside down.”

The MMA apologized, saying it had since last October requested, but failed to secure, the complete list of the victims from the school and then the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Prime Minister’s Office, which refused to hand it over, citing the personal information protection policy.

“We sincerely apologize once again for deeply hurting the bereaved families by distributing the notices,” the Seoul-based conscription agency said in a statement Monday.

“We obtained the list on Jan. 14 after consultations with the 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society, removed the (missing or deceased) students and plan to have an additional briefing on the physical exam process for the survivors and their families this month,” it added, referring to the association of the victims’ families.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)