Police conduct search of Muan Airport and Jeju Air

[Anchor]

In the meantime, the police conducted a search and seizure at Muan Airport and Jeju Air today (1.2).

If issues such as aircraft defects or management problems are revealed during the investigation, it could become a serious civic accident case under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, where the victims are citizens.

Kim Ho reports.

[Report]

The police search and seizure began simultaneously at 9 AM.

The targets included Muan International Airport, the Busan Regional Aviation Office's Muan branch, and Jeju Air's Seoul office.

["Have you secured anything related to the localizer? Have you obtained the maintenance history of the aircraft?"]

The police secured materials from the operations and facilities departments of Muan Airport.

They plan to check whether a dedicated bird strike response team was properly deployed and to investigate the installation process of the defense angle facility, known as the 'localizer,' which has been criticized for exacerbating the disaster.

It is reported that the police have secured materials related to communications with the control tower at the Busan Regional Aviation Office's branch at the airport.

They are verifying whether the response of the air traffic controller was appropriate until the second landing after the distress signal.

Additionally, by analyzing the safety-related materials secured from Jeju Air, it is expected that a comprehensive judgment can be made on the cause of this disaster.

The key issue is whether they can be punished as a serious civic accident.

If a general citizen dies in an aircraft accident, which is a means of public transportation, the Serious Accident Punishment Act can be applied.

However, it must be clearly demonstrated that there were defects in the aircraft or that proper management and supervision for disaster prevention were not conducted.

[Kim Jeong-gon/Director of the Disaster Management Research Center: "For example, if maintenance is neglected due to management issues or if maintenance is not performed on time to increase the number of flights."]

The police have placed a travel ban on two Jeju Air officials, including CEO Kim E-bae.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Aviation and Railroad Accident Investigation Board has completed the conversion of data extracted from the black box voice recorder into audio files and has begun analysis.

This is KBS News, Kim Ho.