"Bereaved families gathered at South Korea's Muan Airport on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the December 29 Jeju Air passenger plane disaster, breaking down in tears as they remembered the 179 people who lost their lives. Footage from the memorial filmed on Sunday shows a tent village set up on the airport's second-floor waiting area for grieving relatives, alongside a joint altar filled with flowers and handwritten notes. Dozens of priests, nuns and family members joined a Catholic mass before marching to the crash site, where many stopped to grieve and call out to their loved ones. Among them was Jeong Hyun-kyung, who has regularly stayed at the shelter since the day of the accident. She said the past year had been marked by grief, frustration and unanswered questions. "It feels like a huge rock has been pressing down on my chest for the entire year. I couldn't digest food, couldn't sleep, but beyond all that, 179 people died and not once has anyone said they did something wrong, that they're sorry, or that something was wrong," she said. The disaster has been linked to a concrete embankment housing a localiser landing guidance facility near the runway. In April, South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced plans to reinstall localiser facilities at seven airports nationwide using breakable materials. "Only now has the Rights Commission said the embankment was wrong and ordered it to be corrected, but until then they tried to blame the pilots," Jeong said. "I felt like if they just did things transparently and clearly, it would work out. But, since that's not happening, if you ask me when this will end, I can't answer. We hope it ends quickly," she added.b Bereaved families have repeatedly questioned the credibility of a probe led by a ministry-affiliated body and have called for an independent investigation. Muan Airport has remained closed since the disaster. While reconstruction design work has been completed, officials say construction will begin only after consultations with the bereaved families. On December 29, 2024, a Jeju Air passenger plane struck a concrete wall while landing at Muan Airport and caught fire, killing 179 people. Only two crew members survived. The crash remains South Korea's deadliest aviation disaster since a Korean Air flight went down in Guam in 1997, killing 228 people."