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3,500 inmates evacuated as wildfire nears North Gyeongsang prisons

Published: 25 Mar. 2025, 23:05 Updated: 25 Mar. 2025, 23:14

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

A bus carrying inmates departs the Northern Gyeongbuk Correctional Institution in Cheongsong County, North Gyeongsang, on March 25. [YONHAP]

Some 3,500 inmates from correctional facilities in North Gyeongsang were evacuated as a wildfire from Uiseong County spread near local prisons, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday evening.

The Justice Ministry announced around 8:48 p.m. that it is in the process of transferring inmates from correctional institutions in the province due to the wildfire spreading across northern North Gyeongsang, including Andong and Cheongsong County.

The fire began Saturday and burned at least 12,565 hectares (31,048 acres) as of Tuesday morning. The Uiseong fire spread to nearby Andong and Cheongsong County.

The Justice Ministry said that around 800 prisoners from the Andong Correctional Institution and approximately 2,700 inmates from the Northern Gyeongbuk Correctional Institution in Cheongsong County are subject to relocation, citing the wildfire risk.

The Justice Ministry has designated the Northern Gyeongbuk Correctional Institution as a facility to detain the most notorious criminals, including Jeon Joo-hwan, who was sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing his female colleague at a subway station in Seoul.

The ministry said it cannot disclose specific locations where the inmates would be transferred.

However, it noted that authorities are reviewing the option to relocate them to other correctional facilities managed by the Daegu Regional Correction Headquarters.

A correctional facility official said the wildfire is already in the vicinity of the detention facilities and added that all available vehicles and buses would be used to transport the inmates, according to a report from the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of Korea JoongAng Daily.

Regarding concerns about flight risks, the official said the inmates are wearing protective gear — seemingly referring to handcuffs — as a measure to prevent them from fleeing.

At around 5:44 p.m. on Tuesday, the Cheongsong County Office ordered its entire residents to evacuate to safe area as the wildfire expanded.

BY YANG SU-MIN, LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]