Min Hyeong-bae vows to rebuild special team for Jeju Air crash bereaved families

South Jeolla-Gwangju Metropolitan City Mayor Min Hyeong-bae said he would rebuild a special support team for families bereaved by the Dec. 29 Jeju Air plane crash.

Min attended a joint memorial rite at Muan International Airport on Friday and afterward wrote on his Facebook page that the city would "do everything it must — from supporting the bereaved families' return to daily life to personally overseeing the airport shelter."

"We will stay by their side until the truth is revealed, until those who must be held accountable are truly held accountable, and until the families' daily lives find even a small measure of normalcy," he wrote. "We will do what needs to be done so that this time of grief does not stretch on any longer."

He also relayed a remark from one of the bereaved family members — "I wish there were no holidays" — adding: "It must be because the empty seat feels so much larger on a day when families used to gather. For a moment I froze, unable to say a word."

The bereaved families' council of the Dec. 29 Jeju Air crash held a joint memorial rite at Muan Airport on Friday, marking the fourth major holiday since the disaster.