{"id":122126,"date":"2026-08-17T13:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/122126\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T13:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:12:12","slug":"lee-orders-all-out-response-to-deadly-southern-coast-downpour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/122126\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Orders All-Out Response to Deadly Southern Coast Downpour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"President Lee Jae-myung delivers a commemorative address at the 81st Liberation Day ceremony held at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Aug. 15. Reporter Kwon Wook - Seoul Economic Daily Politics News from South Korea\" title=\"Lee Orders All-Out Response to Deadly Southern Coast Downpour\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-auto rounded-sm\" style=\"color:transparent;object-fit:contain;object-position:center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/news-p.v1.20260815.e376125e75ce487a9fe087c88968102a_P1.jpg\"\/>President Lee Jae-myung delivers a commemorative address at the 81st Liberation Day ceremony held at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Aug. 15. Reporter Kwon Wook<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A road in Okpo-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, is flooded on the afternoon of Aug. 17. Yonhap News - Seoul Economic Daily Politics News from South Korea\" title=\"Lee Orders All-Out Response to Deadly Southern Coast Downpour\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-auto rounded-sm\" style=\"color:transparent;object-fit:contain;object-position:center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rcv.YNA.20260817.PYH2026081708370005200_P1.jpg\"\/>A road in Okpo-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, is flooded on the afternoon of Aug. 17. Yonhap News<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">President Lee Jae-myung on the 17th called on government agencies to focus all their capabilities on minimizing damage from torrential rain that hit the southern coast, including Geoje and Tongyeong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;Relevant ministries and local governments should swiftly carry out necessary measures in the field and concentrate all their capabilities on minimizing the damage,&#8221; Lee said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;I pray for the repose of those who lost their lives in the sudden downpour and extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved families,&#8221; Lee said. He also wished the injured a speedy recovery, stressing that &#8220;what matters most is ensuring that no further damage occurs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">Lee urged officials to respond preemptively to risk factors while closely monitoring weather and on-site conditions. &#8220;Even after this rainfall stops, there is a possibility of follow-up damage as the ground weakens and river levels rise,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">The president also pointed to the changing nature of disasters. &#8220;The scope and patterns of disasters are changing dramatically from the past due to climate change,&#8221; he said, adding that the government would comprehensively analyze new disaster risks and fundamentally reexamine the existing response system to devise ways to protect citizens&#8217; lives and safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">Lee also addressed firefighters, police and rescue personnel working on recovery efforts. &#8220;Please hold on just a little longer. Above all, be sure to look after your own safety as well,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;The government is also closely monitoring the rain situation through the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters,&#8221; Lee said. &#8220;We will pay attention to even the smallest warning signs and will not let down our guard until the very end.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Lee Jae-myung delivers a commemorative address at the 81st Liberation Day ceremony held at Sejong Center for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3477,11723,8968,31,146,2322,33,63316,6398,63317],"class_list":["post-122126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-climate-change","tag-disaster-response","tag-geoje","tag-korea","tag-lee-jae-myung","tag-president-lee-jae-myung","tag-south-korea","tag-southern-coast-rainfall","tag-tongyeong","tag-torrential-rain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}