Families of victims of the Dec. 29 Jeju Air passenger plane disaster at Muan Airport in South Jeolla said they would stage an overnight sit-in in front of the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
The families' council said on the 30th that it would hold a press conference and a candlelight cultural event on Dec. 1 in front of the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-gu.
The families' council said, "It is nearing one year since the disaster," and noted, "We have been unable to leave Muan Airport and have continued our sit-in, with no truth yet revealed."
The families are most strongly opposing the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) plan to hold a public hearing on Dec. 4 to present an interim investigation outcome. The families' council argued that the ARAIB is pushing ahead with the hearing unilaterally without securing "independence and objectivity."
The families' council said, "The ARAIB must be made independent so that even the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport related to the accident can be investigated transparently and fairly, and until then the investigation procedures must be halted—this is a reasonable demand we have been making for months," and added, "But the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and the presidential office all only talk about the 'independence of the ARAIB' and say they cannot intervene in any way."
It continued, "In the early days of the accident, it looked as if things were moving quickly, such as with the enactment of a special law, so it was forgotten, but with the core of uncovering the truth missing, the families have endured a difficult time to this day," and said, "Conduct a transparent and fair accident investigation so that we can accept it, and tell us why our family members could not return."