South Korea Acting President: "This Wildfire is the Largest Ever... Full Administrative and Financial Support for Disaster Victims"

"Main Fire Extinguished, but Risk of Rekindling Remains"
"Maximum Effort for Temporary Housing and Treatment for Victims"

Prime Minister and Acting President Han Duck-soo said on the 29th, "The government will spare no administrative or financial support until the disaster victims fully recover their normal lives."

Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is holding a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for wildfire response at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 29th. Photo by Yonhap News

Acting President Han stated at the Central Safety and Disaster Headquarters meeting on wildfire response held at the Government Seoul Office that morning, "The large-scale wildfires that started mainly in the Gyeongsang Province region on March 21 have been largely contained," adding, "As of yesterday, wildfires in five northern areas of Gyeongbuk and Ulsan have mostly been extinguished, and the containment rate of the remaining wildfire in Sancheong, Gyeongnam, has exceeded 90%."

He explained, "Unfortunately, this wildfire damage is expected to surpass the 2000 Donghae wildfire, which was the largest in history, in every aspect. There have already been 70 casualties, and about 7,000 evacuees at temporary shelters have not yet been able to return home."

He continued, "The damaged forest area is estimated to be about 50,000 hectares, similar to the total area of Seoul City, and the number of completely burned houses has reached 3,000. National heritage sites such as Gounsa Temple in Uiseong County, Gyeongbuk, were also completely destroyed, and communication disruptions and power outages occurred in areas like Yeongdeok."

Acting President Han emphasized, "Although the main fires have disappeared in most areas, the risk of flare-ups from remaining embers still exists. From now on, we must focus on monitoring to prevent the fire from reigniting. Local field command units must thoroughly monitor the wildfire sites."

He pledged to provide all possible support to help the wildfire victims heal their wounds quickly.

Acting President Han said, "We are currently operating the 'Central Joint Support Center' to provide one-stop services for urgent relief, medical, and legal support, and we will continue to concentrate all efforts to minimize the inconvenience of the disaster victims."

He added, "Related agencies such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Economy and Finance should actively prepare housing support measures to secure temporary housing facilities as much as possible in the short term for disaster victims who lost their homes to the fire, and provide rental housing in the long term. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and local governments should provide multifaceted support so that residents do not face difficulties in farming, such as renting agricultural equipment."

He also explained, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare and local governments will cooperate to carefully manage not only the treatment of the injured but also the psychological care of the residents. We will also ensure that proper respect is paid to those who tragically lost their lives."

Acting President Han stated that a comprehensive review of the system is necessary to prevent wildfire recurrence.

He said, "All related agencies, including the Korea Forest Service, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Fire Agency, should come together to promptly prepare measures to prevent recurrence by addressing the shortcomings. All disasters occur from a combination of 'natural causes' and 'human errors.' I urge the public to strictly follow essential wildfire prevention safety rules such as 'not burning trash,' 'not discarding cigarette butts,' and 'not carrying fire sources when entering mountains.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.