"Not a Landslide," Say Outraged Apartment Residents… Must They Foot the Restoration Bill?

[Anchor]

As we previously reported, controversy has arisen over whether or not a landslide was the cause of the apartment accident in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, which resulted in casualties during torrential rains. With the Korea Forest Service and local government reaching a tentative conclusion that it was not a landslide, the apartment complex might have to shoulder the recovery costs, leaving residents bewildered.

Reporter Kim Minjun has the details.

[Reporter]

In the early hours of August 17, mudslides engulfed an apartment complex in Okpo-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, leaving three people dead or injured and damaging dozens of vehicles.

More than 120 residents are still unable to return to their homes. Regarding the cause of the accident, the Korea Forest Service and local government concluded that it should be classified as a "slope failure" on private apartment property rather than a landslide.

While it resembles a landslide in that soil and rocks collapsed down a slope, a slope failure refers to a collapse in an area altered by human activity, unlike landslides that occur in natural areas such as forests.

In this case, although it looks like a mountain at first glance, a construction company purchased and excavated the land back in 1993, which is why authorities determined it must be classified as a slope failure.

Residents are dumbfounded by news that if the disaster is classified as "man-made" rather than a natural disaster, the responsibility for restoration rests principally on the private sector and the apartment residents, not the state or local government.

[Nearby Resident: That is not right. That is truly not right. Anyone looking at this would call it a landslide.]

Residents expressed extreme anger upon hearing that if disaster relief funds and donations fall short, they might have to pay for recovery and compensation costs out of their own pockets.

[Nearby Resident: It makes no sense. It makes no sense at all. Why should the people here be held responsible?]

A similar accident occurred in August 2022 at an apartment complex in Sadang-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul.

Retaining walls within the complex collapsed due to mud washed down by heavy rain, but because it was not classified as a landslide, the residents were responsible for the recovery.

However, after the area was declared a special disaster zone, the Dongjak-gu Office carried out emergency restoration work using approximately 3.8 billion won from national, city, and district budgets, sparing the residents from shouldering the costs.

As the government declared Geoje and Tongyeong as special disaster zones today (August 21), the Geoje City Hall stated regarding this matter, "Administratively, it is viewed as a slope failure, but we are currently in the stage of reviewing whether to provide restoration support."

(Video by Jeong Gyeong-mun | Video Editing by Choi Hye-ran | Design by Lee Jun-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.