South Korea’s leading low-cost carrier, heavy with debt and its stock already near record lows, is now facing intense public and government scrutiny.

After overcoming pariah status at the end of the last century, South Korea must learn what caused the catastrophe on Dec. 29 and what lessons to draw from it.

Investigators assessing the survivability of a plane crash focus on five factors: integrity of the aircraft, effectiveness of safety restraints, G-forces experienced by passengers and crew, the environment inside the aircraft and postcrash factors such as fire or smoke.

South Korea’s transport minister is resigning because he feels “heavy responsibility” for the Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people last month. A Jeju Air aircraft carrying 181 passengers and crew crashed at the Muan international airport on 29 December in what was the country’s worst air disaster.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Park Sang-woo offered to resign on Tuesday, taking responsibility for the recent Jeju Air plane crash that claimed the lives of 179 out of 181 passengers and crew.

More than 5,500 Koreans from all over the country came to Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province to support the bereaved families of the Jeju Air plane crash victims, according to government officials on Monday.