Korea has succumbed to the Monsoon rains' power once again.
The seasonal downpours left 50 people dead or missing, 35 injured and more than 10,000 evacuated to shelters as of 8 p.m. Monday.
It was the heaviest casualty from flash floods since 2011, breaking last year's 48 already. However, the death toll could rise as meteorologists warn of more heavy rains next week.
This year's Monsoon season is not without elements of natural disaster. Officials and journalists used a new term, “extreme downpours,” which concentrate a summer's rainfall in a day or two. Unlike last year, the natural “water bomb” mainly hit rural areas, not large cities.
Nevertheless, grabbing our attention more are human elements that made the damage disproportionately heavy.
A case in point is the tragedy at a rural underpass some 80 miles south of Seoul. The underpass was flooded Saturday morning when a nearby rivulet overflowed after a levee was brought down by rising water levels, leaving 16 vehicles underwater. It claimed 13 lives at the time of writing, with drain-and-search operations still underway.
The accident showed how unprepared and irresponsible public officials ― elected or appointed, provincial or municipal ― can be.
First, the barrier was poor and shoddy, made of sand, not cement. Still, officials could have prevented the disaster by imposing a traffic ban at the right time. Despite two flood alarms, none did so. A local police box sent officers elsewhere, citing a lack of staff. Officials at a provincial chapter of Korea Expressway Corp. did little more than watch CCTVs.
President Yoon Suk Yeol was right to instruct officials to leave the office and go to the field when downpours hit the nation.
Yet the chief executive appears not fond of staying in the field. Last year, Yoon went home despite flood alarms. “Should the president stay in office just because it rains hard?” his aide said in response to critical reports. “If the president stays on the scene, officials only get confused more.” Looking into a flood-hit semi-underground flat the following day, Yoon said, “I saw flooding began in low-lying apartments on my way home yesterday.” All that seemed to be someone else's affair.
Yoon's aides have shown a peculiar talent for adding insult to injury. They did so again. “Even if the president rushed to Seoul right now, he could not change the situation significantly,” said a senior official when asked whether the presidential office considered canceling Yoon's visit to Ukraine last week. “It's now or never to visit Ukraine.” He was not wrong. However, had he ever thought about how his remarks sounded to victims? Koreans have heard similar words before. “Had we dispatched more officers to the site, it would not have changed much,” said the now-suspended interior minister after the massive crushing deaths in Itaewon last fall.
Last September, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida put off his U.S. visit by one day at the news of a storm coming upward. This past May, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni cut short her G7 summit scheduled to return home to tackle flood damages. We are not saying President Yoon should have followed their examples. International promises should be kept. But the senior official should have said, “It was complicated to change the schedule for various reasons. We sincerely ask for your understanding.”
The downpours of the past few years show extreme weather has become a new normal. The government must update disaster-prevention manuals and train officials to cope with new situations. The repeating disasters are also a wake-up call for Korea not to drag its feet on the “green transition” any longer.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun, whom the incumbent president counted as one of his respected predecessors, once said, “I feel like it's all my fault if it rains too much or too little.” We don't expect the 21st-century leader to have a mindset of Joseon Dynasty kings.
However, Yoon's favorite phrase, “The buck stops here,” should apply to Koreans' lives and safety ― most urgently.