Monday saw a spike in cancellations of travel deals and airline tickets in South Korea amid mounting concerns over aviation safety following a deadly airliner crash that claimed 179 lives the day earlier, according to industry sources.
A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crashed during a failed landing attempt at Muan Airport in southwestern South Korea on Sunday morning, erupting in flames. Of the 181 people on board, only two crew members survived. It was the country's deadliest aviation disaster in nearly three decades.
According to data from the budget carrier, 68,000 domestic and international tickets had been canceled as of 13:00 Monday, with the majority of cancellations occurring after Sunday's fatal accident.
"I planned to travel abroad early next year but had to cancel because of this incident. I'll spend the New Year peacefully this time," said a Seoul resident.
"At the moment, people's distrust in budget airlines could even lead to boycotts," said another Seoul resident.
Travel agencies have also experienced a surge in cancellations as public anxiety deepens. In response, major travel agencies and platforms have waived cancellation fees for packages involving Jeju Air and rebooked customers on larger airlines using alternative airports.
The disaster's impact has also reverberated through the financial market. Jeju Air's shares plummeted 15 percent during the opening hours on Monday, eventually closing with an 8.65 percent loss. Shares of other airlines and travel companies also saw significant declines.
South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country's entire airline operation system once the recovery work on the Jeju Air crash is finished.
Fatal plane crash triggers mass trip cancellations amid mounting concerns over aviation safety
Fatal plane crash triggers mass trip cancellations amid mounting concerns over aviation safety
Fatal plane crash triggers mass trip cancellations amid mounting concerns over aviation safety
A group of South Korean prosecutors and investigators of the anti-corruption investigative unit launched an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, multiple media outlets said Friday.
About 150 prosecutors and investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) headed for the presidential residence in central Seoul from the government office building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province at about 06:14 on Friday.
The prosecutors and investigators arrived at the presidential residence at about 08:00 and about half of them entered the residence by 08:30.
The investigators were reportedly confronting agents of the presidential security service, who protect Yoon at close range inside the residence.
About 2,700 riot policemen were reportedly deployed to the residence to help proceed with the arrest warrant to arrest Yoon and search the president residence.
The CIO warned earlier that if the security service blocked the arrest, it would be a crime of obstruction of justice.
The detention warrant against Yoon was issued by a Seoul court on Tuesday to question the impeached leader over his martial law imposition on the night of Dec 3, 2024, which was revoked by the National Assembly hours later. Yoon had been named by investigative agencies as a suspected ringleader on insurrection charge.
The arrest warrant was scheduled to be effective for a week until Jan 6.
It marked the first time in the country's modern history that an arrest warrant was issued against a sitting president.
The CIO has been investigating Yoon's martial law imposition jointly with the National Office of Investigation and the Defense Ministry's investigation headquarters.
The impeachment motion against Yoon was passed in the National Assembly on Dec 14 and was delivered to the constitutional court for deliberation for up to 180 days, during which Yoon's power is suspended.
Yoon's defense team has said it cannot accept the detention warrant and called it "illegal and invalid". It filed an objection Thursday to the execution of the detainment warrant, as well as the search warrant, according to Yonhap news agency.
S Korean investigators launch attempt to arrest impeached President Yoon
