After additional remains of victims and personal effects were found at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, where the Dec. 29 Jeju Air disaster occurred, Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, "On behalf of the government, I bow my head and offer a deep apology."
On the 9th, the Minister held a press briefing and said, "In the course of additional inspections of aircraft wreckage at Muan Airport recently, additional remains of victims and personal effects are being found," adding, "I deeply apologize to the bereaved families and the public, whose hearts must have collapsed upon hearing this news."
He said, "Immediately after the disaster, the government, together with related agencies, poured its efforts into on-site searches and recovery, but in the end that process was not attentive enough to reach the earnest hearts of the bereaved families," adding, "We should, of course, have handled it more meticulously. I am truly sorry."
He went on, "We will check to the end and take responsible measures with the determination not to miss a single piece of the remaining wreckage," and "We will also fulfill our responsibility to the end in determining the cause of the accident."
The remains and personal effects were found during the process of re-sorting personal effects that the bereaved families have been carrying out themselves. At the wreckage storage facility at Muan International Airport, the tail section of the doomed passenger plane and personal effects recovered from the scene are stored divided among about 200 large sacks, and the bereaved families have been conducting re-sorting work twice a week since January.
In this process, nine pieces of remains believed to belong to victims were found. Of these, one 25-centimeter bone fragment was finally confirmed as a victim's remains by the National Forensic Service, and DNA analysis of the remaining eight pieces is also underway.
The bereaved families' council said, "The successive discoveries of remains and personal belongings show how sloppy and hasty the recovery was at the time," and added, "The government must issue an official apology and move to conduct a thorough fact-finding investigation and establish safety measures."