Ending 345 days of hard negotiations over the Yongsan fire that claimed six lives, 5 demonstrators and one police, during an eviction from a redevelopment site, the developer and victims reached an agreement in late December 2009.
It is estimated that 3.5 billion won ($3 million) was offered to the families of the five squatters. The families had refused to hold funerals for the five until they got compensation from the Yongsan developer. The public funeral was held on the 9th of January.
Under the agreement, families were granted ownership of an arcade and the right to run restaurants for construction workers when the redevelopment project restarts. Nevertheless, the evictees’ stressed that the tragedy of the Yongsan fire hasn’t ended.
"Prosecutors are not opening the 3,000 pages of investigation records from the Yongsan tragedy [that we demanded] and the truth of the incident still remains shrouded," the evictees’ groups said in a statement. "If there are no fundamental changes made to policies concerning new town and redevelopment projects, there’s no guarantee that another Yongsan tragedy won’t happen somewhere else." More information here and more pictures here.
Ending 345 days of hard negotiations over the Yongsan fire that claimed six lives, 5 demonstrators and one police, during an eviction from a redevelopment site, the developer and victims reached an agreement in late December 2009.
It is estimated that 3.5 billion won ($3 million) was offered to the families of the five squatters. The families had refused to hold funerals for the five until they got compensation from the Yongsan developer. The public funeral was held on the 9th of January.
Under the agreement, families were granted ownership of an arcade and the right to run restaurants for construction workers when the redevelopment project restarts. Nevertheless, the evictees’ stressed that the tragedy of the Yongsan fire hasn’t ended.
"Prosecutors are not opening the 3,000 pages of investigation records from the Yongsan tragedy [that we demanded] and the truth of the incident still remains shrouded," the evictees’ groups said in a statement. "If there are no fundamental changes made to policies concerning new town and redevelopment projects, there’s no guarantee that another Yongsan tragedy won’t happen somewhere else." More information here and more pictures here.
