The South Jeolla Provincial Police Agency, which formed a dedicated investigation headquarters for the Dec. 29 Jeju Air passenger plane disaster, on the 16th dispatched investigators to the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board and began executing search and seizure warrants.
Police are securing materials needed to determine the cause of the Jeju Air disaster from an office near Gimpo International Airport and the board's office in Sejong.
Police said the search and seizure was merely a procedure to secure materials. They added that no officials of the board have been booked as suspects.
The board is a specialized accident investigation agency in the aviation and railway sectors under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and has been in charge of uncovering the truth behind the disaster.
However, as controversy grew over a so-called "self-investigation" in which a body under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) would probe responsibility involving the ministry, a bill to convert the board into an independent body under the prime minister recently passed a National Assembly standing committee.
With a bill underway to reorganize the agency, the board's work to uncover the truth is expected to be suspended for a while and thus lag behind the police investigation.