Bereaved families protest body handling at Muan Int'l Airport

[Anchor]

The families of the victims are staying in a temporary tent set up at Muan Airport.

The representatives of the bereaved families issued a statement protesting the government's actions.

We connect to our reporter at Muan Airport.

Choi Hye-rim, what specific points did the bereaved families raise?

[Report]

The representatives of the bereaved families suddenly announced that they would hold a briefing for reporters around 7 PM today (12.30).

At this briefing, the representatives raised concerns that the government had not kept its promises regarding the storage of the bodies.

According to the representatives, the government had initially promised to install all 11 refrigerated containers at the temporary mortuary in the airport by 4 PM today and to transfer all the bodies as well.

However, when they checked the site around 5 PM, they found that the refrigerated containers were still being installed and that the bodies were lying on the cold floor.

The bereaved families protested that the bodies could decompose and urged for their dignity to be respected.

The authorities in charge of the accident recovery stated that they would strive for a quicker response.

The bereaved families, contrary to their initial stance of postponing funeral procedures until all victims' identities were confirmed, announced that they would begin the funeral procedures.

They plan to start the funeral procedures after receiving the list of 90 individuals whose identities are confirmed tonight or tomorrow (12.31), depending on the wishes of the families.

Currently, the bodies of three victims have been placed in funeral homes in Gwangju and Seoul, their respective hometowns.

The bereaved families are forming a council to jointly respond to the accident recovery process.

They have requested that the joint memorial altar be moved from Muan Sports Park, located away from the airport, to inside Muan Airport.

The Jeonnam Provincial Office announced that it would set up a joint memorial altar at Muan Airport starting tomorrow morning and make it possible for people to pay their respects.

This has been KBS News Choi Hye-rim reporting from Muan International Airport.