Yoon: "Don't Worry, We Will Allocate Budget"… Visiting Flood-Affected Areas Two Days in a Row

Visited Flood-Affected Areas in Gongju, Chungnam Following Yecheon, Gyeongbuk the Day Before
Livestock Farmers Affected by Heavy Rain Plead, "Please Let Us Live"

President Yoon Suk-yeol visited areas affected by heavy rain on the 18th and comforted residents by saying, "Do not worry, we will allocate a large budget." This marked his second consecutive day visiting flood-hit areas, following his visit to Yecheon-gun, Gyeongbuk, immediately after returning from a tour of Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine the previous day.

In the afternoon, President Yoon visited livestock farms and vinyl greenhouses in Tancheon-myeon, Gongju, Chungnam, which were damaged by the heavy rain. The visit was accompanied by Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Han Chang-seop, Acting Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety; Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam; and Jeong Jin-seok, a member of the People Power Party.

First, he visited the vinyl greenhouses that had been submerged in water, received a report on the damage, and encouraged the military personnel who were engaged in recovery efforts and providing support to the public. After shaking hands with the affected farmers, President Yoon said, "The water reached up to here. What kind of house is this?" and then added, "The greenhouse pipes seem okay..." trailing off. He then personally toured several greenhouses and listened to the farmers' accounts of the damage.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He also visited the damaged livestock barns. One barn had its front vinyl torn off, and inside, feed was scattered and covered in mud. President Yoon heard from the barn owners, the couple Kim Yu-hee and Choi Sook-ja, that out of 30 cows in the barn, 10 had died and 20 were moved to another barn. In a neighboring barn where 100 cows were raised, 10 died and 20 were swept away by the water and could not be found.

While inspecting the surviving cows, President Yoon said, "Oh dear, these guys must have been very scared," and asked, "Did they get submerged in water too?" When Mr. Kim said, "We removed the carcasses yesterday. We couldn't find the rest," President Yoon responded, "It's so muddy that you can't even let the cows sit on the ground."

When Mr. Kim pointed to a calf and said, "It gave birth yesterday. The cow was exhausted and delayed giving birth since the 10th, but finally gave birth now. We thought it was dead," President Yoon reacted, "Maternal love is truly remarkable..."

To Mrs. Choi, who tearfully pleaded, "Please help us survive," President Yoon comforted her, saying, "Don't worry. The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the governor have come. We will allocate a large budget." He also encouraged the soldiers working on barn restoration, saying, "Since it's a barn, the smell of manure is strong, but our soldiers are working hard."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, on the previous day, after presiding over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting in the morning, President Yoon visited the landslide damage site in Gamcheon-myeon, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongbuk, and the temporary housing facilities for disaster victims, listened to their requests, and promised to expedite the declaration of a special disaster area.

That morning, he also presided over a Cabinet meeting and ordered, "Cut all political subsidies to interest cartels and corruption cartels, and allocate them 100% to farmers affected by crop damage and villages affected by mountain collapses." He further urged improvements in the disaster management system and public officials' awareness, stating, "We cannot respond to unprecedented abnormal weather with the methods used so far. We must not do so." He criticized the mindset of accepting natural disasters as unavoidable, saying, "We must abandon the perception that natural disasters are inevitable."

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