A Comparative Analysis on Maritime Disaster Management between Korea and Sweden

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the importance of crisis management planning and effective governance by comparing and analysing cases related to crisis management in disasters. Firstly, this study analyses the sinking of the MV Sewol of Korea, one of the worst ship accidents in the world, and criticise the crisis management plan. It also applies relevant methodologies to identify how to manage incidents and how to perform them for better management. Secondly, this analyses the sinking accident and crisis management plan of MS Estonia in Sweden which is one of the worst ship accident in the world. As a result, MS Estonia disaster triggered improvements in safety policies in Sweden. This study argues that Korean government can learn important lessons from Sweden to avoid the "vicious cycle" that exists in South Korea's policy decisions related to safety issues. Compared with the case in Sweden, this study suggests that further measures are needed to end the vicious circle of low safety standards and low confidence in Korea. Compared to the case in Sweden, a few policy recommendations are suggested in this study.