South Korea's government said on Monday it will extend the shutdown of Muan International Airport by a week to Jan. 14, citing the ongoing investigation into the crash of a Jeju Air jet that killed 179 passengers on board.

Park Sang-woo, the Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (국토교통부, MOLIT) of South Korea, has said that he would resign following the Jeju Air crash that happened on December 29, 2024.

In his own words, a restaurant owner described recording videos of the Jeju Air plane crash as it happened. “Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing afterimages of the blast.”

More than 5,500 Koreans from all over the country came to Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province to support the bereaved families of the Jeju Air plane crash victims, according to government officials on Monday.

The flight, operated by Jeju Air, was landing when it went off the runway in Muan, in the country’s southwest. Only two people survived the crash.

South Korean officials are struggling to determine what caused a deadly plane crash that killed nearly 180 people on board, with the nation saddened, shocked and ashamed over the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

Joo Jong-wan, the deputy transport minister for civil aviation, acknowledged that safety measures were not sufficient when building the embankment, but said they were done in line

South Korea plans to review the concrete walls positioned just beyond the end of some airport runways after an aircraft attempting an emergency landing smashed into one just over a week ago, killing almost everyone on board.

After overcoming pariah status at the end of the last century, South Korea must learn what caused the catastrophe on Dec. 29 and what lessons to draw from it.