The former president of the company that operates the South Korean airport where a Jeju Air plane crashed last month has been found dead in his home, police said Wednesday.
Song Chang-wan, who served as president of the Korea Airports Corporation from 2018 to 2022, was found at his home in Gunpo, about 22 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday evening. Police said there was no evidence of murder or home invasion and declared his death an apparent suicide.
Son was president when renovation work began in 2020 at Muan International Airport, the scene of the Dec. 29 Jeju air crash that killed 179 people. However, he was not part of the ongoing crash investigation. According to a spokesperson for Jeonnam Province Police,
The Korea Airports Corporation is a government-owned company that operates more than a dozen airports, including Muan Airport. The company said it was not issuing an official statement because Son's death was a personal matter.
One of the special objects of investigation in this crash involving a Boeing 737-800 is the concrete wall at Muan Airport where the antenna array used to guide the aircraft during landing was installed. Jeju Air flight 7C2216 crashed into a wall at high speed and exploded, killing all but two passengers and crew.
It was the deadliest air crash on mainland South Korea and the deadliest worldwide since Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, when all 189 people on board were killed.
The safety standards of the Korea Airports Corporation have been called into question, with critics saying the disaster might have been less severe if the antenna array had been installed on a more fragile mount, like at many other airports. claims.
Government officials said the structure was built in accordance with safety regulations. However, an inspection by the Ministry of Transport found that seven airports in the country, including Muan Airport, did not meet safety standards and needed to renovate their runway facilities.
The Ministry of Transport announced on Wednesday that the existing concrete structures in Muan city will be replaced with more fragile ones. The department also said plans are underway to upgrade the airport's localizers to lightweight steel structures and extend safety zones at the ends of some runways to a minimum of about 790 feet. The Muan runway is scheduled to be closed until mid-April.
A team of aviation officials from South Korea, the United States and Boeing are investigating the accident. Their efforts had already been hampered by a malfunctioning flight recorder that stopped working minutes before the crash.
Police are conducting a separate investigation and have banned Jeju Air's chief executive officer from leaving the country.
