A local court ordered the state electricity agency to pay 8.7 billion won (US$6.57 million) in compensation to victims of a 2019 wildfire in the east coastal county of Goseong for causing the blaze.
The fire in April 2019 turned 1,260 hectares of woodland into ashes in Goseong, 154 kilometers northeast of Seoul, the size of more than 1,700 football pitches combined, and a switch box on an electric pole managed by the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) was blamed in part for causing the fire.
A total of 64 victims filed a suit seeking a combined 26.7 billion won in compensation from KEPCO, and the Chuncheon District Court's branch in Sokcho, just south of Goseong, ordered the company to pay 8.7 billion won, which translates to 60 percent of the total damages recognized by the official damage appraiser, Korean Claim Adjuster Association.
Source: Yonhap News Agency