Written by Cynthia Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) – When South Korea's acting president, Choi Sang-mok, arrived at the site of the country's deadliest air disaster on Sunday, he had been in office for less than 48 hours.
Choe, the country's finance minister, became acting president on Friday night after the removal of Prime Minister Han Dak-soo, who had been serving as acting president since President Yoon Suk-yul was removed from power on December 14 after his short-lived attempt. To impose martial law.
A stunning turnaround at the top of Asia's fourth-largest economy and one of its most vibrant democracies left the government scrambling when Jeju Airlines Flight 7C2216 slammed into a wall at Muan International Airport on Sunday, killing most of the 181 people on board.
Choi visited the site a few hours after the accident and declared it a special disaster area.
He added, “The government would like to extend its sincere condolences to the bereaved families and will make every effort to recover from this incident and prevent its recurrence.”
A ministry spokesman and four other officials told Reuters that government offices were still behind the scenes understanding the chain of command and how to issue press releases. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive planning.
A Land Ministry spokesman said: “Choi went to Muwan today with Land Ministry officials, not Finance Ministry officials.” “A team of Ministry of Transport and Safety Ministry officials will report directly to Choi regarding the Muan plane crash over the next few weeks. As for how press releases about all of his schedules will be distributed – it has not been decided yet.”
Each ministry concerned with foreign policy, administrative issues or safety has teams reporting to Choi, but Yoon's presidential staff does not, and Choi works from a government complex in Seoul rather than any official headquarters, one of the officials said.
A senior Finance Ministry official said it has not yet been decided who, if anyone, from Yoon and Han's offices will report to Choi. The ministry official added that some of Choi's duties as finance minister have been delegated to the vice minister.
“The Central Disaster Response Team meetings are ministerial-level meetings, so the Land Minister and Safety Minister report directly to Choi,” this official said.
Choi leads this central disaster control team instead of the prime minister, who is usually in charge based on evidence drawn up after the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking, killing 304 people, and the Itaewon Halloween crowd stampede that killed 159 people in 2014. 2022, a fourth official said.
Political unrest erupted in South Korea when Yoon unexpectedly declared martial law on December 3, but rescinded the order within hours after Parliament defied the military and police cordon to vote against Yoon.
The opposition-led parliament accused him of rebellion and abuse of power and impeached him, then later dismissed him.
Choi will serve as acting president while the Constitutional Court decides the fate of Yoon and Han.
The uncertainty comes as South Korea tries to manage volatile foreign exchange markets and faces the task of preparing for the administration of President-elect Donald Trump in the United States, a key ally of Seoul.
