The appalling sinking of the Sewol in 2014 was a product of state failure and state missing. As an event, it was a condensed eruption of structure deeply coupled with the neo-liberal development. The disastrous mistakes of ship steering was not necessarily destined and resulted in the loss of people. But in the desperate moment of acute crisis, government and bureaucratic networks did not function at all for saving the people at the very sinking process of ship. Here the ship means living people. From the president to the bottom, state apparatuses all together lost in finding its own proper role. The long waning of state role was an inseparable offspring of theparticular trajectory of Korean modernization. After democratization coming with neo-liberal globalization, the institute, organization and scale of state were still very huge, but its spirit, capacity, and role were strikingly diminished. Market and enterprises profoundly replaced the state, and dominated the whole society. In that situation, the state of exception, crisis, barbarity, and nature became general, structural, and lasting. It was not exceptional. No one can escape from the ship/state of crisis even on the land. It is very difficult for the ordinary people to find a state of security, civilization, and liberty as a safe place. Without restoring the proper role of state and politics, we cannot cope with the enduring structural crisis. It can come from a strong democracy. The sinking was neither exceptional nor particular.Market and enterprises profoundly replaced the state, and dominated the whole society. In that situation, the state of exception, crisis, barbarity, and nature became general, structural, and lasting. It was not exceptional. No one can escape from the ship/state of crisis even on the land. It is very difficult for the ordinary people to find a state of security, civilization, and liberty as a safe place. Without restoring the proper role of state and politics, we cannot cope with the enduring structural crisis. It can come from a strong democracy. The sinking was neither exceptional nor particular. All of us must share both the traits of private individual and public citizen. If not, we cannot create any sphere of public appearance. Only public citizens can construct an empowered democracy. Through participation and representation from below, we establish the democratic state for acquiring our security, freedom and welfare. Then, without being qualified as citizen, we may not defend the private life and interest. In South Korea, the discrepancy between popular will and representative institution in constituting the democratic government is decisive. After democratic opening, the former and the latter showed, repeatedly, systematically and institutionally, the utterly distorted representation. Then, the close combination between high conflict and high crisis of life continues again and again. How to narrow down the institutionally distorted wide gap? The pure proportional representation system may be the best possible way, based on the popular will, with essential electoral and constitutional reform. That kind of democratically empowered human community will pave the way of both healing the injured people in short term range and constructing a state of security in long-term one. By then, through coping with the specific tragedy of the Sewol sinking, we will finally front the two tasks simultaneously: one is to transform from a private individual to a public citizen, another is to secure the right to life, right to security, right to truth, and right to remedy for genuine human life.