Rep. Yoon Jae-gap: Coast Guard Officers' Average Annual Duty Time Only 29 Hours, 'Coast Guard in Name Only'

Nearly 100 Maritime Casualties Occur Annually Even After Sewol Ferry Disaster

No Bonus Points or Evaluation Criteria for Crew Experience in New Coast Guard Recruitment

Yoon Jae-gap, Member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea, Haenam-Wando-Jindo)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Yoon Jae-gap, a member of the National Assembly from the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee (Democratic Party, Haenam·Wando·Jindo), strongly criticized the recent consecutive maritime accidents and the vulnerable regulations and structure at the scene, stating on the 8th, “There are many executives who have never even been on a ship once; how can the Coast Guard be strong at the scene under such circumstances?”

Although the Coast Guard has implemented major improvements such as strengthening maritime rescue training and expanding personnel since the Sewol ferry disaster, maritime casualties continue to occur at an average of 94 people per year.

In particular, due to maritime accidents occurring during this year-end and New Year period, there were casualties including 32 deaths and 6 deaths with 1 missing on the Minho off Jeju Island in December 2020, 7 rescued and 3 missing on the Daeyang 127 off Geoje Island in January 2021, and 8 rescued and 1 missing on the Samsung 1 off Wando in January 2021, raising doubts about the Coast Guard’s accident prevention measures and rescue capabilities.

Moreover, despite being the agency responsible for maritime rescue and safety, the Coast Guard has no evaluation regulations or additional points for shipboard experience when hiring new personnel, and the average annual shipboard time for police officers at the rank of superintendent or higher is only 29 hours, barely exceeding one day, making on-site command capabilities inevitably very weak.

Additionally, the Coast Guard continues to recruit personnel who have passed administrative or judicial examinations unrelated to maritime rescue and safety work, and 22% of senior commanders at the rank of police commissioner or higher are composed of such examination passers.

Assemblyman Yoon Jae-gap pointed out, “The Coast Guard was relaunched after the Sewol ferry disaster to strengthen maritime rescue and ensure public safety, but nearly 100 maritime casualties continue to occur annually, and it operates under regulations and a structure that inevitably make it vulnerable at the scene,” adding, “The Coast Guard needs genuine change to become a trusted organization by the public through major reforms such as awarding additional points for shipboard experience during new recruitment and promotion exams, mandating and increasing ship training hours for commanding officers, and establishing new regulations to strengthen on-site capabilities and reduce maritime casualties.”

He also added, “It is necessary to consider measures to allow the Coast Guard to focus more on maritime rescue and safety work, such as reducing or transferring the Coast Guard’s marine pollution prevention duties to the Ministry or to the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation and the private sector.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.