Court: Compensation for Victims and Bereaved Families of Jecheon Fire Disaster is 12.1 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] A court ruling has determined that the compensation amount for the victims and bereaved families of the Jecheon Sports Center fire disaster in December 2017, which caused many casualties, amounts to 12.15 billion KRW.

The Civil Division of the Cheongju District Court Jecheon Branch (Presiding Judge Jung Hyun-seok) announced on the 16th that it ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a damages claim lawsuit filed by about 80 bereaved families of the Jecheon fire disaster against the building owner, Mr. Lee (55).

The court stated that "the building owner, Mr. Lee, was found criminally liable with a confirmed sentence of 7 years imprisonment and a fine of 10 million KRW for neglecting safety management as a building owner and failing to take active measures to prevent human casualties," and added, "He is responsible for compensating the damages suffered by the victims and plaintiffs." Furthermore, the court ordered "the defendant to pay the plaintiffs the claimed amount of 1.12 billion KRW along with delayed interest."

Additionally, the ruling specified that "the total compensation amount, calculated by considering the victims' gender, age, life expectancy, income, and the mental suffering experienced by the bereaved families, is 12.15 billion KRW." The amount was estimated to be as much as 666 million KRW per household and as little as 270 million KRW. Even after deducting the insurance payout (2.59 billion KRW) already paid by the fire liability insurance company covering the building to the bereaved families, the total reaches 9.559 billion KRW.

There were 29 casualties in the Jecheon Sports Center fire. The bereaved families of the 28 deceased filed this lawsuit. Previously, Jecheon City purchased the building through auction for 1.51 billion KRW and distributed only 544 million KRW from the sale proceeds to the bereaved families who had placed a provisional seizure of about 1.12 billion KRW on the building. The building owner, Mr. Lee, objected to this payment, and ultimately, the bereaved families filed a damages lawsuit equivalent to the amount of the provisional seizure to secure ownership of the distribution funds.

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