Gyeonggi Province has provided emergency living expenses totaling 144.82 million KRW to the bereaved families and victims of the fire at the Hwaseong primary battery factory.
Gyeonggi Province announced on the 16th that from the first day of payment on the 4th, starting with four Korean nationals, a total of 31 victims and bereaved families received emergency living expenses amounting to 144.82 million KRW by the 15th.
It has been 12 days since Governor Kim Dong-yeon of Gyeonggi Province held a press conference on the 3rd and announced emergency living expense support of 5.5 million KRW for bereaved families of the deceased, 3.67 million KRW for seriously injured, and 1.83 million KRW for minor injuries.
Gyeonggi Province explained that providing emergency livelihood stabilization support to victims and bereaved families in a social disaster is unprecedented not only among local governments but also at the central government level.
Regarding the decision to provide emergency living expenses, Governor Kim Dong-yeon stated, "Gyeonggi Province employees have been providing one-on-one support to the bereaved families, and considering that 18 out of the 23 deceased were foreigners, we received feedback that the biggest difficulty for the bereaved families was livelihood issues. Taking into account the tragic and exceptional nature of this incident, the decision was made after review and resolution by the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and discussions with civil society experts."
He added, "Since it is principle that the company responsible for the accident bears the costs, we will claim subrogation rights for support expenses including livelihood stabilization funds, bereaved families’ airfare, and accommodation costs."
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