By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

KU Jung Hwan wanted to be a teacher but his life was cut short on Friday afternoon in a fatal accident at Forbidden Island along with three other students who drowned after being swept out to sea by a wave.
Yesterday, 24-year-old Ku’s friends and family members gathered at the Tanapag cemetery for his burial.
Erick Brown, Ku’s former classmate at Northern Marianas College, said Ku taught him humility and consideration for others.
“He was a good guy. He had so many friends at NMC,” said Brown.
Brown and Ku used to compose music together and they worked for a month to help young exchange students from South Korea in their short-term study of English as a second language.
“We slept in the same room. We took care of the exchange students from Korea. I will never forget him,” Brown said.
Ku’s former teacher, Craig Garrison, now Hopwood Jr. High School’s vice principal, described Ku as an “extremely polite” student who valued his Korean roots.
“He was very Korean. Extremely polite in a cultural sense. He showed us that teachers are to be respected and he was always helping everybody,” said Garrison who took time off to attend his former student’s funeral.
“This is an incredibly tragic incident. Ku is a fine example of what other students should be,” he added.
A number of Ku’s fellow students at NMC also showed up at his funeral.
Ku would have earned his bachelor of science in elementary education degree at NMC on May 19, graduation day.
His classmates and friends at NMC said they will sorely miss Ku for his kindness and brightness.
“He was very smart,” said Beryl, a graduating nursing student at NMC.
Ku’s family owns a restaurant and other businesses on Saipan. His father, a deep-sea diver, wasn’t able to attend the funeral.
The Korean Association of Saipan said Ku’s father remains in Indonesia on a diving expedition.
Garrison said the survivors of the tragic accident at Forbidden Island need support to be able to express their feelings.
He said a crisis management program organized by a Korean-speaking person that will help the victims deal with their friends’ deaths should be considered.