Continuous Airline Accidents Lead to Flood of Safety Bills... Processing Delayed Indefinitely

24 Aviation Safety and Business Bills Proposed in the 22nd National Assembly
Processing Rate Below 10%, Remaining Bills Under Committee Review
Moves to Mandate Black Box Reporting to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

Following the Air Busan passenger plane fire that occurred a month after the Jeju Air disaster in Muan, Jeollanam-do last month, calls to strengthen domestic aviation safety are growing louder. Although the National Assembly has already proposed a large number of aviation safety bills aimed at reinforcing responsibility from safety management to post-accident investigations in response to the consecutive accidents, the prolonged impeachment political turmoil has prevented the ruling and opposition parties from accelerating the processing of these bills.

According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 3rd, a total of 24 bills related to aviation business and safety have been proposed during the 22nd National Assembly as of this date. Among them, only two bills amending the Aviation Business Act, respectively introduced by Kwon Kyu-taek of the People Power Party and Kim Ki-pyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, have passed the National Assembly hurdle. Even these bills focus more on strengthening consumer rights related to departure delays rather than aviation safety. Consequently, the bill processing rate for aviation laws handled since the opening of the 22nd National Assembly stands at 8.3%, with the remaining bills still under review in the relevant committees.

Half (12 bills) of the aviation law amendment bills currently pending in the National Assembly were proposed after the Jeju Air disaster. Specifically, these include measures addressing the neutrality of investigation bodies and expanding the scope of information disclosure to enhance safety following the Jeju Air disaster. Democratic Party lawmakers Lee Yeon-hee, Kim Won-i, and Bok Ki-wang each introduced the so-called 'Partial Amendment to the Act on Investigation of Aviation and Railway Accidents' to prevent the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's so-called 'self-investigation' into the Jeju Air disaster. This is because the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Committee (Investigation Committee), which investigates the cause of the disaster, includes a large number of former heads of the Ministry’s Air Traffic Headquarters, current and former Ministry officials, and executives of affiliated organizations. Criticism has been raised that the department immediately suspected of responsibility is investigating the responsible parties. Lawmaker Lee Yeon-hee stated, "To avoid such problems, we will establish a system where the Prime Minister appoints members selected by a meeting of victim representatives to reflect the positions of bereaved families and victims in the committee."

A bill was also proposed to elevate the authority responsible for aviation safety from the head of the regional aviation office to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Yong-gap said, "I have proposed a bill to legally stipulate that the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport form an Aviation Safety Committee to deliberate and decide on matters related to aviation safety, and to elevate the committee with the Minister as its chairperson." If this bill passes, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will be required to establish a basic plan for bird strike prevention and risk management. The law will also mandate the formation and operation of a Bird Strike Prevention Working Committee responsible for deliberation, decision-making, and consultation on these matters.

A bill to strengthen the management of Flight Data Recorders (FDR), commonly known as black boxes, has also been introduced. Under current law, all aircraft that received their first individual airworthiness certificate after 2018 are required to install auxiliary power units, but aircraft released before then are not obligated to do so. Lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi of the Democratic Party said, "The Jeju Air passenger plane involved in the recent disaster did not have an auxiliary power unit, resulting in no flight data being recorded for four minutes before the collision." He added, "We will mandate the installation of auxiliary power units on all aircraft, and if installation is not possible, require that this be disclosed to passengers."

Lee Hae-min of the Innovation Party has taken steps to require mandatory reporting of black box data to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the event of an aviation accident. According to current law, black box data is not included in the items that must be reported to the Minister after an accident. Currently, even if transparency in investigations requires information disclosure, there is no way to enforce it. In a phone interview, Lee emphasized, "It is necessary to add 'data recorded on the flight data recorder' to the mandatory reporting items in the event of an aviation accident and to improve the system so that the National Assembly can request this data from the committee."

The role of the 'Jeju Air Disaster Special Committee,' which will hold its first meeting on the 6th to pass the Aviation Safety Act, is also drawing attention. Expectations are rising that the ruling and opposition parties will reach broad agreement on related bills within the committee. A lawmaker from the opposition party preparing amendments to the Aviation Act said, "We are preparing draft bills through the committee," adding, "The ruling and opposition parties will work to swiftly pass the bills after discussions with the bereaved families' council."

Yonhap News

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