Yoon orders swift, sufficient support for people who suffered damage in typhoon

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government Friday to provide swift and sufficient support to people who suffered damage from Typhoon Khanun, his office said.

Yoon gave the instruction to Interior Minister Lee Sang-min after being briefed on the overall scale of damage caused by the typhoon, presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a written briefing.

“Provide swift and sufficient support to people who suffered damage in the typhoon and come up with measures to ensure thorough support for the victims so they are not uncomfortable,” Yoon was quoted as saying.

Yoon stressed the importance of enforcing preemptive control measures and early evacuations in disaster-prone areas, saying the reason Typhoon Khanun caused minimal human casualties, even though it moved slowly while vertically crossing the Korean Peninsula, was because more than 15,000 people were evacuated early, and some 2,400 underground roads and facilities were closed in advance.

He thanked the interior ministry, police, firefighters and local government workers for their hard work minimizing the damage from the typhoon, as well as the people for actively cooperating with the government’s measures, the spokesperson said.

Typhoon Khanun made landfall on South Korea’s southeastern coast Thursday morning and moved slowly north for 16 hours, dissipating after reaching the vicinity of North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, around 6 a.m. Friday, according to the weather agency.

The typhoon caused flooding, facility destruction, landslides, transportation disruptions and school closures, but no casualties were reported, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said.

One person died and another went missing, both near flooded streams, in the southeastern city of Daegu on Thursday, but they were classified as accidents unrelated to the typhoon.