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Runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport Reopens a Week After Fatal Collision 

A removal work, rear, is underway at the site of a planes collision at Haneda airport in Tokyo, on Jan. 5, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
A removal work, rear, is underway at the site of a planes collision at Haneda airport in Tokyo, on Jan. 5, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
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Runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport Reopens a Week After Fatal Collision 

A removal work, rear, is underway at the site of a planes collision at Haneda airport in Tokyo, on Jan. 5, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
A removal work, rear, is underway at the site of a planes collision at Haneda airport in Tokyo, on Jan. 5, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Tokyo’s Haneda airport is almost back to its normal operation Monday as it reopened the runway a week after a fatal collision between a Japan Airlines airliner and a coast guard aircraft seen to have been caused by human error.

The collision occurred Tuesday evening when JAL Flight 516 carrying 379 passengers and flight crew landed right behind the coast guard aircraft preparing for takeoff on the same runway, both engulfed in flames. All occupants of the JAL’s Airbus A350-900 airliner safely evacuated in 18 minutes. The captain of the coast guard’s much smaller Bombardier Dash-8 escaped with burns but his five crew members died.

At the coast guard Haneda base, colleagues of the five-flight crew lined up and saluted to mourn for their deaths as black vehicles carrying their bodies drove past them. The victims' bodies were to return to their families Sunday after police autopsies as part of their separate investigation of possible professional negligence.

Haneda reopened three runways the night of the crash, but the last runway had remained closed for the investigation, cleanup of the debris and repairs.

The transport ministry said that the runway reopened early Monday and the airport is ready for full operations. Television footage showed domestic flights taking off as usual from the coastal runway.

The collision caused more than 1,200 flights to be canceled, affecting about 200,000 passengers during the New Year holiday period. The airport was crowded with passengers Monday. All scheduled flights have resumed except for 22 JAL flights cancelled through Tuesday.

The investigation focuses on what caused the coast guard flight crew to believe they had a go-ahead for their takeoff while the traffic control transcript showed no clear confirmation between them and the traffic control. Traffic control staff assigned to the runway apparently missed an alert system when it indicated the unexpected coast guard entry.

The Haneda airport traffic control added a new position Saturday specifically assigned to monitor the runway to step up safety measures.

A team from the Japan Transport Safety Board was interviewing traffic control officials Monday as part of their investigation. The six-member team has so far interviewed JAL flight crew members and recovered flight data and voice recorders from both planes, which are key to determining what led to the collision.

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South Korea's Opposition Party Vows to Impeach Acting President

FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
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South Korea's Opposition Party Vows to Impeach Acting President

FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

South Korea’s main liberal opposition party said Tuesday it will seek to impeach acting leader Han Duck-soo, as Seoul grapples with the turmoil set off when impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol made a short-lived declaration of martial law.
The country’s political parties are now tussling over how to run investigations into that decision, as well as separate allegations against Yoon's wife, The Associated Press reported.
The opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, wants independent investigators, and gave Han until Tuesday to approve bills appointing them.
Impeaching Han would further deepen political chaos and worries by neighboring countries. Han, the country’s No. 2 official, has taken over the president's powers since Yoon’s impeachment. If he’s impeached too, the finance minister is next in line.
The Democratic Party has slammed Han for vetoing several opposition-sponsored bills, including a controversial agriculture bill. It also urged Han to quickly appoint justices to vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing Yoon’s impeachment and will determine whether to dismiss or reinstate him.
Filling the Constitutional Court’s three empty posts could make conviction more likely, as it requires the support of six of the court’s possible full nine members.
The Democratic Party demanded that Han approve bills calling for special prosecutors to investigate Yoon for rebellion over his marital law decree, and his wife for corruption and other allegations, by Tuesday.
Han didn’t put the bills on the agendas for Tuesday’s Cabinet Council meeting, calling for the ruling and opposition parties to negotiate more.
Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae responded that there's no room for negotiations about a Yoon investigation, and that his party would begin steps toward an impeachment at once.
“We’ve clearly warned that it’s totally up to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo whether he would go down in history as a disgraceful figure as a puppet of rebellion plot leader Yoon Suk Yeol or a public servant that has faithfully carried out the orders by the public,” Park told a televised party meeting.
South Korean prosecutors and other officials are separately probing whether Yoon committed rebellion and abuse of power, but he’s ignored requests by investigative agencies to appear for questioning and allow searches of his office.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several other senior military commanders have already been arrested over the deployment of troops and police officers to the National Assembly, which prompted a dramatic standoff that ended when lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and voted unanimously to overrule Yoon's decree.
The governing People Power Party said that the opposition's impeachment threats are interfering with Han’s “legitimate exercise of authority." Floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, a Yoon loyalist, said the Democratic Party’s “politics of intimidation have reached their peak.”
An impeachment vote would face legal ambiguities. Most South Korean officials can be impeached with a simple majority of parliament, but impeaching the presidents takes two-thirds. The rival parties differ on which standard would apply to an acting president.
The Democratic Party controls 170 of the National Assembly's 300 seats, so it would need support from members of other parties including Yoon's own to get a two-thirds majority.
The Constitutional Court has up to six months to determine Yoon's fate. If he's thrown of office, a national election to find his successor must take place within two months.