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One Year After Muan Jet Crash, No Final Cause as Probe Oversight Moves to Prime Minister’s Office

Families' objections to a retracted interim briefing eroded trust in the ministry-run inquiry, prompting a legal overhaul.

Overview

  • Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashed during landing at Muan International Airport on Dec. 29, 2024, killing 179 of 181 people on board.
  • Investigators reported engine evidence consistent with a bird strike and sent both engines to CFM International for analysis.
  • The probe’s interim assessment that the pilot shut down the left engine rather than the badly damaged right one was withdrawn after family objections.
  • The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board led the inquiry under the Transport Ministry, but the National Assembly revised the law to shift oversight to a new board under the Prime Minister’s Office, expected early next year.
  • The government promised in April to replace runway-side embankments with breakaway structures at seven airports, yet five sites remain unfinished eight months later, and police inquiries have produced no indictments.