South Korea to conduct special safety inspection on Korean air

The South Korean government on Tuesday launched a special inspection of the country’s largest flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co., one day after the company’s flight to Japan overran a runway at a Japanese airport, Yonhap News Agency reported. The special safety inspection is expected to last three weeks, an official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, according to the report. The flight from Seoul’s Incheon International Airport overran a runway by about 15 meters as it was landing at Japan’s Niigata Airport, though none of its 106 passengers or nine crew members were injured. The aircraft itself, too, remained intact. “There were no casualties, but it was a serious incident that could have jeopardized the safety of passengers, ” Lee Kwang-hee, the head of the ministry’s transportation safety division, was quoted as saying in Seoul. “(The government) will take stern measures if it is found that there had been any mistakes,” he added. The ministry official noted the government was taking unusually stern measures toward what can only be termed a minor “incident” if not a simple happening, partly because of the recent crash-landing of a flight by another South Korean flag carrier Asiana Airlines Inc. at San Francisco International Airport that has led to the deaths of three passengers so far while injuring some 180 others. “It is true the government is taking intensified steps than in the past. But because of the heightened public concerns over safety following the Asiana Airlines accident, the government will investigate the incident as a way of preventing future accidents and take necessary measures,” Lee said.