South Korean President Lee Jae-myung apologized on Monday for the Jeju Air plane crash on December 29, 2024, in which 179 people died. The first anniversary of the tragedy has passed, and he promised to support the investigation into the crash.

“Who could forget the profound shock and pain of that day? I know there are no words that can fully console you, but as president, with the responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, I offer my sincerest apologies,” the president said in a message to the victims' families posted on his Facebook account.

The president, who assumed the South Korean presidency in June of this year after the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-yeol in April, said his government will strengthen the independence of the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Commission and will “do everything possible to determine the cause” of the incident.

“I believe the least we can do to honor the victims is to ensure that a tragedy like this does not happen again,” Lee said.

Complaints from the victims' families

Parliament South Korea launched an independent investigation on Monday into the crash, the worst civil aviation disaster in the country's history, amid complaints from victims' families about the official inquiry. The committee will also focus on investigating whether there were attempts to cover up the findings of the official investigation, according to the South Korean news agency Yohnap. The crashed aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, was possibly struck by a bird and landed without deploying its landing gear or other braking devices, causing it to veer off the runway and crash into a wall at Muan Airport. Two people survived and 179 died, making it the worst civil aviation accident on South Korean soil and the worst of 2024 globally.