As the year draws to a close, South Koreans must have hoped for respite from the political chaos visited on their country in recent weeks.
It was going to take something out of the ordinary to overshadow Friday’s impeachment of Han Duck-soo, the second South Korean leader to be removed from office by parliament in a fortnight.
On Sunday morning, the country was forced to confront the horrifying sight of a passenger aircraft careering along the tarmac before smashing into a wall and bursting into flames, reportedly killing all but two of the 181 people onboard.
The two events that will come to define 2024 for a country hitherto celebrated for its economic and cultural prowess are unrelated, of course, but it is impossible to ignore the political backdrop to Sunday’s tragedy on the runway at Muan international airport.
The incident has highlighted the potential risks posed to disaster response by instability at the highest level of government.
There were encouraging signs in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. South Korea’s rival political parties launched separate initiatives in response to the disaster, apparently setting aside the animosity of recent weeks.
The opposition Democratic party leader, Lee Jae-myung, left for Muan, where he plans to stay indefinitely to support rescue efforts, the Hankyoreh newspaper said, although he will stay away from the crash site while recovery operations continue.
The ruling People Power party, meanwhile, formed a taskforce focused on investigating the crash and supporting victims’ families. The party’s acting leader, Kweon Seong-dong, will visit Muan on Monday with taskforce members to “review accident response measures and prevention strategies” and meet bereaved families.
Within hours of the crash, the acting president, Choi Sang-mok, arrived at the scene to support emergency workers and offer words of comfort to more than 100 relatives desperate for news about their loved ones. Some surrounded him, demanding updates and pleading with him to put the families first. Choi could only bow repeatedly while saying, “I understand”.
There was anger, too, at what some saw as a slow response from authorities and the airline. The families had pleaded to be allowed near the crash site since Sunday morning, but were denied access due to the restricted nature of the airport zone.
When Lee Jeong-hyeon, the chief of Muan fire station, told families that most passengers were presumed dead, the room erupted in wails of grief, according to the Yonhap news agency. “Is there absolutely no chance of survival?” one family member asked. Lee bowed and replied: “I am so sorry, but that’s what it’s looking like.”
Choi’s presence was a reminder that the worst aviation disaster on Korean soil occurred at a time of unprecedented political turmoil, coming just two days after he replaced the impeached Han.
The flames that swept through the fuselage of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 had barely been extinguished when concerns were raised over the ability of a man who, even while serving as acting president as of Friday continues in his roles as finance minister and deputy prime minister, to respond effectively to the disaster.
The political uncertainty extends to the interior ministry – a vital coordinating body in response to situations such as the Muan crash – which is being led by an acting minister after his predecessor stepped down in the aftermath of this month’s martial law debacle.
Choi acknowledged the gravity of the situation in remarks he made at the airport. “No words of consolation will be enough for the families who have suffered such a tragedy,” he said, pledging that “the government will spare no effort in supporting the bereaved families”.
The joyless game of political revolving doors that catapulted an unwilling Choi to the presidency 48 hours earlier began when Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended from the presidency after attempting to impose martial law on 3 December. His replacement, Han, was impeached by parliament on Friday over his refusal to appoint judges to the constitutional court – the body that will decide Yoon’s fate.
Beyond managing Sunday’s aviation disaster, Choi has also inherited a barrage of other immediate challenges: a currency that has plunged to its lowest level since the 2009 financial crisis, and heightened security concerns after several military commanders were arrested over their alleged involvement in the martial law plan.
The response to the Muan disaster has drawn scrutiny from civic groups, including the families of the 159 people killed in the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul – a tragedy compounded by the government’s inadequate emergency response.
On Sunday, their representatives called for proper support for victims’ families, including counselling and translation services for the relatives of the two foreign victims onboard Jeju Air flight 2216 – both Thai nationals.
“Given the political chaos of the insurrection situation and presidential impeachment, acting president Choi must do his utmost to ensure there are no failures in the government’s control tower role in responding to and managing this disaster”, the group representing bereaved families of the Itaewon tragedy said in a statement.
As the families of the Jeju Air victims attempted to comprehend what had happened, the Muan tragedy was quickly turning into a test of whether South Korea’s fractured political landscape could find unity and compassion amid the devastation.