WORRIES ABOUT KOREA’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT ABILITIES
Choi’s performance will be under intense scrutiny, and not solely because of the ongoing political crisis.
Indeed, the South Korean government has a poor track record of handling disaster situations. The deadly Seoul Halloween crowd crush of 2022 remains a fresh wound, with officials being slow to grasp the situation’s severity and deflecting responsibility in the aftermath. In 2014, the sinking of the ferry Sewol had seen a similarly poor handling, both during and after the event.
On Sunday, a video of the Jeju Air crash showed the plane bursting into flames after it belly landed and slammed into a wall, which, according to some experts, should not have been at the end of the runway.
There is also a controversy on whether the runway was long enough to allow safe landings, as it seems that provincial authorities have been requesting a runway extension from the government for many years.
Based on the experience of past catastrophes, one can expect an intense blame game between the government, regional authorities and air safety officials to start shortly.
It is still too early to assess the impact of the Jeju Air crash on South Korea’s ongoing political crisis. It may add a few days to Acting President Choi’s lifespan in office, as the opposition will probably be reluctant to impeach him in the midst of national mourning. But his period of grace will be very short.
Unlike a large-scale natural disaster or a war, the aftermath of the plane accident does not require much presidential intervention, and from now on, an efficient response can happen without him.
Although incredibly traumatic, the loss of flight 7C2216 does not fundamentally change the course of South Korea’s ongoing political crisis, whose Gordian Knot lies in the fate of impeached President Yoon.
Dylan Motin holds a PhD in political science and is currently a non-resident Kelly Fellow at the Pacific Forum. He is the author of Bandwagoning in International Relations: China, Russia, and Their Neighbors (Vernon Press, 2024).
