By Kang Seung-woo
The Cabinet decided Wednesday to introduce maritime safety superintendents at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to oversee ship operators as a preemptive measure against maritime disasters.
To that extent, the Cabinet approved amendments to the Maritime Safety Law.
The ferry Sewol carrying 476 passengers capsized off the country's southwestern coast on April 16, leaving more than 300 people dead or missing.
"This is part of the government's drive to beef up preventive measures to avert man-made disasters just like the Sewol case," a maritime affairs ministry official said.
The government will designate 35 existing ship inspectors as inaugural maritime safety superintendents and raise the number in the future.
As part of beefing up transparency over the course of safety inspections into vessels and their operators, the Cabinet endorsed the revision bill that specifies who will be subject to the regular inspections and when they shall submit relevant documents to executive orders.
It stipulates that a maritime safety superintendent inform the ship operator of details of its inspection plan seven days before the inspection.
"The lack of a sense of safety lies behind a series of accidents that pose a major threat to national safety," Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said at the Cabinet meeting. "Heeding lessons from the cases, the relevant ministries should carry out safety inspections into major facilities, starting today, and devise a master plan that will include ways to overhaul the safety culture of the country."
The Cabinet decided Wednesday to introduce maritime safety superintendents at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to oversee ship operators as a preemptive measure against maritime disasters.
To that extent, the Cabinet approved amendments to the Maritime Safety Law.
The ferry Sewol carrying 476 passengers capsized off the country's southwestern coast on April 16, leaving more than 300 people dead or missing.
"This is part of the government's drive to beef up preventive measures to avert man-made disasters just like the Sewol case," a maritime affairs ministry official said.
The government will designate 35 existing ship inspectors as inaugural maritime safety superintendents and raise the number in the future.
As part of beefing up transparency over the course of safety inspections into vessels and their operators, the Cabinet endorsed the revision bill that specifies who will be subject to the regular inspections and when they shall submit relevant documents to executive orders.
It stipulates that a maritime safety superintendent inform the ship operator of details of its inspection plan seven days before the inspection.
"The lack of a sense of safety lies behind a series of accidents that pose a major threat to national safety," Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said at the Cabinet meeting. "Heeding lessons from the cases, the relevant ministries should carry out safety inspections into major facilities, starting today, and devise a master plan that will include ways to overhaul the safety culture of the country."
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