Recognizing the Causal Relationship Between Earthquake and Power Development Project...First Trial Victory
"If Confirmed, Compensation Could Reach Up to Approximately 2 Trillion Won"
It has been confirmed that 96% of Pohang citizens participated in the compensation claim lawsuit for damages caused by the earthquakes that occurred in Pohang, Gyeongbuk, in 2017 and 2018.
The Pohang Earthquake Citizens' Countermeasure Headquarters announced on the 31st that, based on the information disclosure response received from the court, a total of 499,881 people participated in the earthquake lawsuit group. This figure is about 50,000 more than the approximately 450,000 people tentatively announced the day after the lawsuit submission deadline on the 20th.
The initial number of participants in the earthquake compensation lawsuit was 56,750, including 47,850 at the Pohang Branch Court and 8,900 at the Seoul Central District Court. After the first trial ruling, a large number of citizens joined, and within about four months, an additional 432,131 people participated, including 372,000 at the Pohang Branch Court and 71,131 at the Seoul Central District Court.
The Pohang Branch Court explained that it finalized the total count by combining the information disclosure data from Pohang Branch Court and the 8,900 people who filed at the law firm Gwanghwa at the Seoul Central District Court, along with the case numbers received after the first trial ruling. However, the detailed number may vary considering duplicate participants or residents who moved to other regions and applied to different courts.
A vehicle at a daycare center in Buk-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongbuk, damaged by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in November 2017 [Image source=Yonhap News]
As of November 2017, when the Pohang earthquake occurred, the registered population of the Pohang area was 519,581. Since the earthquake damage compensation claim lawsuit is based on the time of the earthquake occurrence, the 499,881 lawsuit participants correspond to 96% of the population at that time.
On November 16 last year, the Daegu District Court Pohang Branch recognized the causal relationship between the Pohang earthquake and the geothermal power generation project, ruling that people recognized as residents of Pohang on November 15, 2017 (magnitude 5.4 main quake) and February 11, 2018 (magnitude 4.6 aftershock) should be paid compensation ranging from 2 million to 3 million KRW.
If the first trial ruling is upheld, the amount citizens receive will reach 1.5 trillion KRW. The Countermeasure Headquarters stated, "Including statutory interest rates, the compensation amount could reach up to about 2 trillion KRW," and added, "In terms of the size of the plaintiff group participating in the lawsuit and the compensation amount based on the first trial ruling, this is the largest class-action lawsuit in the history of the Korean judiciary."
Currently, the defendants, the government and POSCO, have appealed, claiming they cannot pay the compensation. The plaintiff Countermeasure Headquarters has also appealed, demanding that the originally claimed amount of 10 million KRW per citizen be paid.
The chairman of a certain organization emphasized, "Since the majority of Pohang citizens participated in the compensation claim lawsuit, the entire Pohang region must unite to win in the appeal trial," and added, "Measures should also be prepared to assist citizens who were unable to participate in the lawsuit."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
