Survivors and family members of those killed in the Korean school camp blaze have been quick to blame the tragic death toll on a lack of fire safety equipment.

The fire is the latest in a series of high-profile disasters to hit South Korea, which have given the country one of the worst public safety records of the world's industrialised countries.

The Sampoong Department Store collapse claimed 500 lives

In October 1994 a central section of the Songsu Bridge in Seoul collapsed under the weight of rush hour traffic. Dozens of vehicles and their occupants fell into the Han River, 32 people died.

In April 1995 a gas explosion at a construction site in Taegu killed or injured 300 workers and passers-by.

Two months later in June 1995 Seoul's Sampoong Department Store collapsed in the worst peacetime disaster in South Korean history. More than 500 shoppers were crushed to death and another 900 were injured.

And over the last 20 years Korean Air, the South Korean flag-carrier, has been plagued by disasters in which more than 800 people have died. Most recently eight people were killed when a Korean Air cargo jet crashed into a construction site near Shanghai airport.

Profit over safety

The lack of fire escapes contributed to the high death toll

Many analysts blame this on the rapid pace of development that has led managers and government officials to focus more on profit than safety.

Less than 50 years ago, at the end of the Korea War, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, battered by years of bitter conflict.

In fact many observers said that North Korea was the more likely of the two countries to succeed.

Determined to prove itself and backed by vast amounts of American aid, South Korea embarked on a massive programme of industrialisation. By the mid-1990s, before the recent recession started, South Korea was the epitome of the Asian economic miracle.

Breakneck quest

But in its breakneck race to become a developed country, critics argue that issues of safety and construction standards fell by the wayside.

There will be pressure to ensure a similar disaster cannot happen again

Some Koreans calls this the "ppalli ppalli,'' or "hurry-up syndrome'': a mentality of making things work - just - and getting on with the business of making money that has been the basis for much of Korea's stunning growth.

With new construction sprouting across the country and fortunes being made, building regulations were either not enforced - or not existing - and a culture of safety was not given the priority that it ought to have been.

In the majority of cases lax safety standards were found to be at fault. Collusion between construction bosses and planning officials was also found to be deeply ingrained.

In the case of the department store collapse it was even found that corporate greed had driven management to keep the building open and the money flowing even after the top floors of the building were found to be unsound.

Presidential action

Following the Korean Air crash, President Kim Dae-jung stepped in and rapped the company's knuckles: forcing it into a radical overhaul of management practices.

He said the company's board, dominated by the Cho family, had pursued profit over safety and the airline's appalling safety record was hurting the country's reputation.

Public humiliation is a rare occurrence in South Korea, but such was public outrage at the fourth air crash in two years that the president was forced to take action.