By Lee Hyo-sik
Seok Hae-kyun, the wounded captain of the Samho Jewelry, has miraculously recovered from multiple gunshot wounds but is struggling to overcome another mundane hurdle: settlement of medical costs.
Seok became a national hero for his courageous role in helping South Korean Navy commandos retake the kidnapped ship from a group of Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 21.
But during the rescue operation Seok was caught in the crossfire, sustaining life-threatening injuries. The 58-year-old captain underwent surgery at an Omani hospital to remove bullets, and since being flown back here on Jan. 29 has been treated at Ajou University Hospital.
With Seok’s hospitalization at one of the Korea’s best trauma treatment centers entering its fourth month, the question has been raised over who is going to pay for his snowballing medical costs of nearly 200 million won ($180,000). His employer, Samho Shipping, is obliged to pay Seok’s medical bill.
But the company is now under court receivership due to mounting debts, meaning the firm cannot settle the debt without court approval. Even if the court approves it, Samho still has to obtain agreement from its creditors, which could take months.
Ajou University Hospital said Thursday that it asked Samho Shipping on April 29 to pay 175 million for Seok’s treatment. It said his medical bill will exceed 200 million won as he is expected to remain hospitalized for two more months and undergo several more operations.
Samho also said Ajou Hospital staff came to the head office in Busan late last month and asked it to pay for Seok’s medical costs by early May. If not, the captain may have to leave the hospital.
“We filed for court receivership on April 21 when it became impossible for us to operate normally due to snowballing debt. The debt resulted mostly from huge financial losses incurred by our two hijacked ships over the past year,” a company official said.
He then said the firms cannot settle Seok’s medical bill at the moment because it first needs to receive court approval. “We plan to seek approval from the court and consult with our creditors about how we can pay for his medical costs.”
Separately, a senior official at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs is now in trouble for payment guarantees he made to Korean Air for transporting nearly 240 Korean construction workers and residents from Libya in February when the North African nation fell into a state of civil war.
Doh Tae-ho, director general for construction policy, headed the ministry’s emergency task force set up to deal with turmoil in Libya at the time. When the task force decided to evacuate Korean construction workers and residents from Libya by air, it asked Korean Air to send a charter flight.
But the airline was unwilling to do so, demanding the ministry make payment guarantees in advance for the airfares of all evacuees.
Doh offered his personal guarantees to the airline in order to evacuate Korean nationals as soon as possible. With this, Korean Air sent a plane to Tripoli, carrying 238 Korean construction laborers and residents out of Libya.
However, of the 238 evacuees, 25 construction workers and 38 residents have continued to refuse to pay for their airfare amounting 2.5 million won each, arguing the government should pay for the costs.
“There are no provisions that the government should pay for civilians’ airfares even for overseas evacuations. It is not easy to come out with solutions for this situation,” Doh said.
He then said he is considering asking the Construction Association of Korea to shoulder the costs of transporting the construction workers. For the unpaid airfares of the 38 Korean residents in Libya, Doh plans to ask Korean Air to cover the expenses.