On Dec. 1, families of victims of the Dec. 29 Jeju Air passenger plane disaster at Muan Airport in South Jeolla held a press conference in front of the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul. Five people, including the head of the bereaved families' council, shaved their heads and pleaded, "Do not take away the truth."
The bereaved families' council is protesting that the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB)'s plan to hold a hearing on Dec. 4 to announce interim investigation findings amounts to a "self-investigation," "secondary harm," and "state violence."
The bereaved families' council said, "Over the past year, the ARAIB has not sincerely responded even once to our information disclosure requests," and demanded, "Hold all procedures, including hearings and interim announcements, fairly only after the ARAIB becomes independent."
Kim Yu-jin, head of the bereaved families' council, said, "My last prayer is that the suffering of my family, who died with bones broken and flesh torn, will be the last sacrifice on this land," adding, "Do not turn away from us so that the truth of the disaster is not hastily tied up and distorted like this. Do not take away the truth."
After the press conference, the bereaved families' council headed to the presidential office to request a meeting with the president. When police blocked them, there was a brief physical clash. The bereaved families' council began a sit-in outdoors from that day.