The South Korean government said on Monday that 146 of the 179 victims of the country's deadliest air crash had been identified.
A Jeju Air jetliner returning from Thailand skid off the runway when attempting to land at South Korea's Muan International Airport on Sunday, killing 179 out of the 181 aboard.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 146 victims had been identified by 17:00 on Monday, while the DNA matching for 33 others is still underway.
Although the search and rescue efforts have come to an end, firefighters and police officers were still seen combing through the crash site in search of the items left by the victims.
Acting President of South Korea Choi Sang-mok said on Monday that the top priority is to identify the victims, provide support for their families and treat the injured. He also urged investigators to ensure transparency throughout the process and keep the victims' families well informed.
Choi required the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to conduct an emergency safety inspection of the national airline operation system to prevent further aviation accidents from happening.
The ministry announced on Monday that it will conduct a comprehensive inspection of the 101 Boeing 737-800 airliners currently in operation in South Korea, which will be the first step in the emergency safety inspection.
The ministry said it had sent the two black boxes recovered from the crashed plane to the Gimpo Airport Testing and Analysis Center to determine whether data analysis could be conducted.
The ministry also said that it has launched a probe into the regulations concerning the construction of the concrete wall the jetliner crashed into and whether it is one of the causes of the accident.
Some experts believe that the accident's casualties could be reduced if the jetliner did not crash into the wall, as the plane was still under pilots' control when skidding down the runway, despite the emergencies it had during the landing.
The families of the victims on Monday requested the South Korean government to send more experts to the accident site to expedite the identification and recovery of the victims' remains, and provide more assistance to them.
They also demanded compensation from Jeju Air, which issued an apology to them on the day.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that it plans to send a team of experts to South Korea to participate in the investigation, while the jetliner's manufacturer, Boeing, also said it will participate in the investigation.
146 victims in South Korean plane crash identified
A 25 percent import tariff on all foreign-built vehicles entering the United States has raised serious concerns for manufacturers in South Africa.
Automotive giants like Mercedes and BMW have long used South Africa as a base for global exports -- but those plans may be shifting into reverse gear after the U.S. announced the punitive measures.
"If you take, for example, BMW, 97 percent of the X3 that we are producing in Rosslyn is exported out of the country. We only sell 3 percent in South Africa, and there's a huge number of those vehicles that also go into the U.S. So there are companies in South Africa that are purely here not because they are selling vehicles in South Africa; they are here to produce vehicles for the global market, and it's important for them to remain globally competitive," said Mike Mabasa, CEO of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa.
U.S. automaker Ford, which has deep roots in South Africa, is also in the crosshairs.
The company recently invested over 300 million U.S. dollars to upgrade its Silverton plant in Pretoria, South Africa, for the production of the world's only plug-in hybrid Ranger, which has just entered production but could face delays or restrictions.
"If an American citizen wants to buy specifically a Ford Ranger that is a plug-in hybrid, they can only place an order in South Africa, nowhere else in the world. So, that means, obviously, the capacity of Ford to be able to produce those vehicles in big volumes is going to be constrained, because Americans are going be looking at another Ford that is produced in another country, or even in the United States," said Mabasa.
South Africa has long enjoyed duty-free automotive exports to the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, but that relationship now hangs in the balance.
A sharp shift in U.S. foreign policy threatens to derail an industry that employs thousands and contributes around 5 percent to the country's economy.
"We produce less than 1 percent of global automotive vehicles, so to say. So, in reality, the impact on us is likely to be more disproportionate than those of our peers that produce at the same level. And the risk is actually created -- a concentration risk -- in countries that have greater capacity and are building more; in those countries will be able to absorb some of this," said Parks Tau, South Africa's minister of trade and industry.
Amid growing concerns about overreliance on the U.S. market, Amith Singh, national manager for manufacturing at Nedbank Commercial Bank, emphasized the importance of tapping into regional trade opportunities.
"I think we need to make better use of some of our local agreements, our African continental agreements. How do we leverage that? How do we partner with the government and private sector to start benefiting the countries and the economies aside from the United States? So, those could be the catalyst to drive our localization projects; it could be what we need to drive the African economy as opposed to being completely reliant on the States (United States)," he said.
South Africa is for now standing firm in its decision not to retaliate against steep U.S. import tariffs, set to take effect in just a few days.
Officials in Pretoria acknowledge the challenges posed by the current U.S. administration but are pursuing a diplomatic approach in hopes of maintaining stable relations and preserving the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
US tariffs rock South Africa’s auto industry
