President Lee Jae-myung will visit the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Seoul Situation Center on the 18th to check on the damage caused by heavy rain. The meeting originally scheduled to be held in Busan has been canceled.
The spokesperson for the Presidential office said in a media notice, "The regional development meeting for Busan, scheduled for tomorrow, has been canceled due to the nationwide heavy rain and the resulting damage situation."
President Lee was supposed to hold a town hall meeting style gathering with residents to discuss regional development plans during his visit to Busan. At this meeting, President Lee was expected to listen to the residents' candid opinions on local issues, including the transfer of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to Busan and the opening of the Arctic sea route, which are key presidential campaign promises for the region.
The Presidential office had planned to proceed with the meeting schedule as planned until the morning of that day. However, it appears that the schedule was abruptly canceled due to the increasing damage from the heavy rain that had been falling for two days since the previous day.
Instead of the originally scheduled events, President Lee is expected to visit the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Seoul Situation Center on the 18th to assess the damage situation from the heavy rain and the comprehensive response status of the government and local governments.
At the chief secretary meeting on that day, President Lee also urged related ministries and local governments to ensure thorough safety inspections and emergency responses in areas of concern for human casualties, including semi-basement areas, underground roads, underground parking lots, flood-prone areas, landslide risk areas, and retaining walls.