Pohang City and Bar Association Collaborate to Resolve Citizen Inconvenience in Pohang-Induced Earthquake Lawsuit

Mayor Lee Gang-deok Hosts Advisory Meeting with Daegu Local Bar Association Pohang Branch

Mayor Lee: "We Will Work Together with Lawyers to Prevent Secondary Damage to Affected Citizens"

On the 27th, Pohang City held an advisory meeting with the Pohang branch of the Daegu Bar Association regarding the Pohang-induced earthquake damage compensation lawsuit, listening to the difficulties faced by local lawyers and discussing ways to alleviate citizen inconveniences.

On the 27th, Pohang City held an advisory meeting with the Pohang branch of the Daegu Bar Association regarding the earthquake damage compensation lawsuit triggered in Pohang.

At the meeting, Mayor Lee Kang-deok, Pohang Bar Association branch chief Eom Jong-gyu, and about 20 members attended to share the city's response status and future plans following the damage compensation lawsuit ruling. They candidly discussed areas where the city and the Bar Association need to work together, including resolving citizens' questions and alleviating inconveniences.

Considering the hardships faced by citizens severely affected by the induced earthquake and the fact that all 500,000 citizens are caught up in a lawsuit frenzy, the city had requested the government to promote extraordinary national-level measures for lump-sum compensation for mental damages.

The lawyers attending the meeting also agreed that having all 500,000 citizens participate in the lawsuit is a very backward practice, and that once the final ruling on the ongoing case is made, the government should provide lump-sum compensation for damages regardless of lawsuit participation.

Additionally, the city requested the Bar Association's cooperation regarding cost reduction measures for economically vulnerable groups such as basic livelihood security recipients and persons with disabilities, as well as support for alleviating inconveniences and providing legal services for marginalized groups like the elderly, nursing home residents, and immobile individuals.

Together with this, they agreed to pool efforts to reduce citizen inconveniences such as urgent queuing by opening counseling centers in each eup, myeon, and dong district, considering that the statute of limitations has not yet expired.

Regarding predictions of the final ruling, it was noted that since the key issues were sufficiently filtered in the first trial, the state's liability for damages is unlikely to change significantly, but the amount of consolation damages may be adjusted.

It was also mentioned that Pohang City won the lawsuit because it formed the Pohang Earthquake Geothermal Power Joint Research Team to investigate the cause of the earthquake, and with the enactment of the Special Act on Earthquakes, the designation of Pohang citizens as victims, the conduct of fact-finding investigations, and the extension of the statute of limitations were achieved.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “Following the court ruling, difficulties are expected for socially and economically vulnerable groups such as basic livelihood security recipients and persons with disabilities regarding lawsuit participation,” and added, “We will work together with local lawyers to ensure that residents who suffered great pain from the earthquake do not experience secondary damages related to the lawsuit.”

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