The public safety minister plans to conduct on-site safety checks of major public facilities, officials said Monday, as the country is set to mark the first anniversary of a ferry tragedy that killed more than 300 people next month.
The deadly sinking of the Sewol off South Korea’s southwest coast on April 16 last year laid bare the country’s poor public safety maintenance system, prompting the government to set up the Ministry of Public Safety and Security.
Starting on Thursday, Minister Park In-yong and Vice Minister Lee Sung-ho will embark on two weeks of on-site security checks on facilities in six major sectors, including emergency response, public safety education, public facilities and maritime accident prevention, according to the ministry.
Whether safety policies are being implemented well on-site and how the policies could further be improved will be focus of the forthcoming inspections, the ministry noted.
On the first day of inspections Thursday, Park will visit a paint factory and a disease-prevention center just southwest of Seoul, the ministry said.
Park will also visit a flood-prone area in the capital’s western district of Gimpo as well as the newly-refurbished Jangchung Gymnasium in central Seoul, it added. (Yonhap)
