More Yeonpyeong residents returning home

By Kang Shin-who

More and more residents of Yeonpyeong Island near the tense maritime border are returning to their homes despite North Korea’s warning Sunday against the South’s military drills.

Citing Seoul’s plan to resume live-fire drills and discussions with the U.S. to hold additional joint military drills in waters off Yeonpyeong Island. The North threatened Sunday through its official Korean Central News Agency, “Nobody can predict how the situation will deteriorate in the future.”

However, the number of returnees continued to rise, reaching 71 on Saturday from 49, 28, 19 and 17 over the previous four days. A total of 126 residents, out of some 1,700, are choosing to stay on the island, which was attacked by North Korea on Nov. 23.

The government’s poor compensation and support seem to be the reason for the return of the islanders, who were forced to flee their homes following the North Korean artillery shelling.

More Yeonpyeong islanders are expected to return as a number of volunteers have joined in the recovery efforts on the devastated island.

While staying in 24-hour saunas or temporary shelters, many evacuees complained about the government’s emergency management and have called for more money so that they can relocate to the nearby mainland for fear of another North Korean attack.

However, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security has offered only to subsidize the recovery of their destroyed houses on the island and the residents’ medical costs. The ministry has expressed difficulty in providing them with housing and means of living on the mainland, saying there are no legal grounds for the support.

According to the ministry, the North’s shelling ruined 29 houses and damaged 80 others. The government will funnel all expenses to refurbish the destroyed houses and provide them with 1 billion won in emergency relief funds to help residents restore their livelihoods.

Incheon City, the district under which the island falls will offer up to 1 million won ($878) in subsidies to each person and secure unsold public housing units of Land & Housing Corp. in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, for residents.

In the meantime, the returned islanders were busy restoring their destroyed village. The returnees along with volunteer workers replaced broken windows and cleaned yards.

Earlier, fishing restrictions on the waters off the island were lifted and the legal fishing period, which had ended in late November, was extended to the end of December.