Families demand answers a year after South Korea’s Jeju Air crash

MUAN, South Korea, Dec 29 (Reuters) – A year after the worst air disaster on South Korean soil, families of the 179 people who died gathered around the battered concrete embankment where Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashed, demanding answers and a thorough investigation.

Hundreds of people surrounded the site at Muan International Airport where the Boeing 737-800 crash-landed without wheels deployed, slammed into the barrier and exploded into a fireball on December 29, 2024.

Relatives – who have said they are outraged by the lack of progress in finding out what went wrong – sobbed on Monday as they lit candles on a cake and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for the 16 victims who were born in December.

PRESIDENT PROMISES REAL CHANGE

“We will not stop until the truth is finally revealed and those responsible are held accountable so that the lives of the 179 were not lost for nothing,” Kim Yu-jin, representing the families, said at a memorial service in the airport.

Addressing mourners, government officials and the Parliament speaker, Kim accused the government of focusing its energies on clearing up the aftermath of the crash rather than carrying out a proper investigation.

Relatives laid flowers on a memorial altar and looked on as the names of the dead were read out and displayed on a screen, written on cards in the shape of boarding tickets.

“I hope the investigation will be conducted thoroughly, so that those who deserve to be punished … are punished,” Ryu Kum-Ji, who lost both her parents in the crash, told Reuters.

President Lee Jae Myung – who came to office six months after the disaster – apologised to the families in a statement earlier on Monday and said it was his duty to make sure there was no repeat of the tragedy. 

“The disaster clearly revealed the systematic problems and limitations of our society,” Lee said.

“What’s needed now is not perfunctory promises or empty words but rather real change and action.” 

The government-led Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board has failed to meet a one-year deadline to release a report into the accident.

It said in a preliminary report in January that both of the plane’s engines sustained bird strikes in an earlier approach to the airport.

In July, investigators said the left engine, which sustained less damage than the right one following the bird strikes, was shut down before the crash landing.

Few other details have emerged since then, with questions remaining about the design of the runway including the heavy embankment, and what actions the pilots may have taken in the last few minutes of the flight.

Representatives of the families have raised questions about the board’s independence and expertise and said investigators appear to be blaming the pilots rather than looking into other factors.

Parliament has been reviewing a plan to overhaul the board.

(Reporting by Dogyun Kim and Yunji Ha in Muan, Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Andrew Heavens)