‘Poor management of high-risk areas led to bigger disaster,’ Yoon says

“Entry control into high-risk areas and preemptive evacuation have been repeatedly emphasized since last year. However, if such basic rules to deal with disasters are not kept on sites, people’s safety cannot be guaranteed.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said that the poor management of high-risk areas for landslides led to bigger disasters during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, which he presided on Monday morning right after his visit to Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. “As such extreme weather events become more frequent, we must maintain the mindset that they could happen at any time. We need to completely remove the mindset that there is nothing we can do as they are extreme events,” he added. “Please handle this matter with extraordinary determination.” The president criticized the management responsibility of the government for heavy rainfall, which caused casualties in multiple locations, practically defining the latest disaster as man-made.

President Yoon took a helicopter to Gamcheon, Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province, which was swept away by a landslide, right after the meeting and consoled the victims. In a green civil defense suit with sneakers, the president asked questions about rocks and sand piled on the street. He also asked the advisors of the presidential office to take pictures of the surroundings, rather than himself.

The president then met with over 20 people in their 80s and 90s at a senior welfare center in Beolbang, which is currently used as a temporary camp for the landslide victims. “I also couldn’t believe it. When I heard about the landslide, I thought it was a small mountain behind houses collapsed. I’ve never seen hundreds of tons of rocks fall from a mountain,” President Yoon said. “You must have been so shocked. Please be patient. The government will restore everything.”


Joo-Young Jeon aimhigh@donga.com