Kepco ordered to pay 8.7 billion won for 2019 wildfire

Social Affairs

Published: 20 Apr. 2023, 15:24

Kepco ordered to pay 8.7 billion won for 2019 wildfire

The refugees of the Goseong wildfire that happened in 2019 burning a doll that suppose to Kepco in front of the power company’s Seokcho branch office on April 4 in marking the fourth anniversary of the fire. [YONHAP]

A court ordered Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) to pay 8.7 billion won ($6.6 million) to evacuees from a wildfire in Goseong, Gangwon, four years ago.

Chuncheon District Court ordered Kepco on Thursday to pay 60 percent of the assessed value of the damage caused by the fire, which started with a spark from a power line in April 2019.

The fire scorched some 1,260 hectares (3,113 acres) of land.

However, the compensation is far less than the 26 billion won requested by 64 Goseong residents who claimed their homes and businesses were burned to the ground.

The residents decided to file a lawsuit against the power company after a special committee of Kepco officials and officials from the Gangwon provincial government and Goseong county government crafted a proposal to pay evacuees 60 percent of the damage assed by the Korean Claim Adjuster Association.

The lawsuit commenced in January 2020, with the court last November advising the two sides to negotiate an agreement. However, talks failed due to continued disagreements.

In the lawsuit and subsequent appeals, the court in January acquitted seven incumbent and former Kepco employees of failing in their responsibilities.

Goseong wasn't the only town in Gangwon devasted by a fire that year. Fires in Gangneung and Donghae combined to burn an area just as large as the fire in Goseong. There was a large fire in Inje as well.

All in all, forest fires in 2019 scorched 2,865 hectares of land in Gangwon and forced 1,524 people to evacuate.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]