On March 29, a golf course in Iljik-myeon, Andong City, North Gyeongsang Province, stands charred and blackened in the aftermath of the worst wildfire in the region’s history. (Yonhap)
ANDONG•YEONGYANG, South Korea, April 2 (Korea Bizwire) — As South Korea continues to assess the devastation caused by last month’s historic wildfires across five counties in North Gyeongsang Province—Uiseong, Andong, Yeongyang, Cheongsong, and Yeongdeok—stories of overlooked victims are beginning to emerge, particularly among the region’s foreign residents.
According to the Ministry of Justice, more than 6,000 foreign nationals, including marriage migrants and migrant workers from countries such as China and Vietnam, reside in the affected counties. Many have now found themselves in precarious legal and economic situations following the fires that raged from March 22 to 28.
Some individuals were unable to extend their visas or update their immigration status in time due to the disaster, effectively rendering them undocumented overnight. Others, whose visas were nearing expiration, lost critical documents such as passports in the blaze, leaving them unable to complete the required paperwork.
In response, the Ministry of Justice has announced a temporary amnesty for foreign residents in the five affected counties who became undocumented as a result of the disaster.
On April 1, in Seok-ri, Yeongdeok-eup, Yeongdeok County, North Gyeongsang Province, residents examine homes and a church building left in ruins by the wildfire. (Yonhap)
Through April 30, such individuals will be exempt from fines and allowed to submit essential documents at a later date. Processing fees for visa extensions or adjustments will also be waived.
As of April 1, more than 20 foreign nationals had visited the Andong Immigration Office to seek assistance related to wildfire-related immigration issues.
Among the affected is Mr. An Tụm, 48, who arrived from Vietnam on March 25 with his wife to join his sister’s family in Yeongyang County’s Seokbo-myeon, the area hardest hit by the fires.
The couple, who entered South Korea on a marriage migration visa, had planned to stay for eight months helping with local cabbage farming to earn money for their family back home. But those plans collapsed when wildfires engulfed nearby hills, greenhouses, and agricultural machinery.
The use of foreign labor is growing at a rapid pace to meet the ongoing labor shortage. However, organizations representing the rights of domestic workers, such as the Korean Trade Union Confederation, are strongly opposed to this, saying that working conditions will only worsen. This is a picture of a foreign worker working at a flood recovery site. (Yonhap)
“I’ve never seen fires like this, not even back home,” said Mr. An, staring at the scorched remains of his sister’s farmland. “I came to work and send money to my family, but now I don’t know what to do.”
The provincial government is also investigating whether seasonal foreign workers—around 400 of whom are in the affected counties from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and elsewhere—have suffered employment loss due to damage to farms and orchards.
Authorities are coordinating with the Ministry of Justice to possibly reassign such workers to unaffected areas within North Gyeongsang Province.
“We’ve sent official requests to each affected county to assess the extent of the damage to seasonal workers,” a provincial official said. “Depending on the findings, we will take appropriate action to support them.”
The wildfires, already deemed the worst in the region’s history, have left not only a physical trail of destruction but a complex humanitarian challenge as well—one now revealing itself in the struggles of the province’s most vulnerable residents.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
