So they wont pay for the foreign victims funeral cost or transportation back to their original countries?
Idk it feels so cold
Atleast there are private citizens willing to help
Tbh if I were in the boots of any local government politician, it'd make no sense to pay for transportation.
A nice gesture would be to set up an official fund that people can donate to, however.
Or muster up local resources to offer a (hopefully cheaper) option that doesn't profit or lose money. Aka, the government will take requests for transport and then arrange local transport options to help the bodies along. That'd earn my vote in my book if I were there -- a politician that knows to thread the needle. Between looking like a dick and not spending tax money on wantonly.
In the end no one could really have foresaw this kind of expense; no one looks forward to a tragedy. It'd be nice if people stepped up but ultimately the government literally has no obligation to do anything except for their own citizens.
It says in the article that the Korean foreign ministry is considering how to finance the assistance to foriegn victims but it's very lovely of LYA and other private donors to provide assistance to the foreign victims. I hope they can sort it out soon.
That's a good thing, the foreign ministry isn't dragging their feet.
who won't pay? the government or the victim's relatives?? imo the government is only responsible for their citizens
Display MoreTbh if I were in the boots of any local government politician, it'd make no sense to pay for transportation.
A nice gesture would be to set up an official fund that people can donate to, however.
Or muster up local resources to offer a (hopefully cheaper) option that doesn't profit or lose money. Aka, the government will take requests for transport and then arrange local transport options to help the bodies along. That'd earn my vote in my book if I were there -- a politician that knows to thread the needle. Between looking like a dick and not spending tax money on wantonly.
In the end no one could really have foresaw this kind of expense; no one looks forward to a tragedy. It'd be nice if people stepped up but ultimately the government literally has no obligation to do anything except for their own citizens.
I would understand that in normal circumstances
But this was a major tragedy
The local goverment is paying 15k per Korean victims funeral. Paying 5k for transportation of foreign victims should be on the table.
As Yinye said, the article states that hasn't been decided how or at what level the government will be able to assist foreigners who died in the Itaewon crush, but it seems to be a positive sign that they are already talking about this - also recall this only just happened. Concluding that a private citizen paying means the government won't or somehow refused feels like jumping to conclusions.
I would understand that in normal circumstances
But this was a major tragedy
The local goverment is paying 15k per Korean victims funeral. Paying 5k for transportation of foreign victims should be on the table.
As a government, if you use tax money to pay for foreign things, it gets unpopular quick. Even a couple hundred bucks per foreign victim will still get a couple hundred locals groaning at the fact that their hard earned money is flying away. No matter the situation, no matter the tragedy.
If the foreign ministry has been able to get a deal for the foreign victims home country to pay for a chunk and the local government makes up the difference, that's infinitely better, at least they aren't spending fully out of pocket to help what is ultimately another country's responsibility.
Money can break families and drive people mad, it has the power to get people to make remarks in poor taste during a tragedy, putting it lightly.
Think about it this way, your country of citizenship should be the ones paying the money. If its Koreans, then its the Korean government, if its russia, then the kremlin should fork over the money. If they decide to do it. If the victims families want the bodies now and the other government can't get the money there, the korean government can offer to pay, if they have a guarantee to get at least most of that money back.
The foreign visitors aren't entitled to that money, dead or not because they had no part in raising that money and once its spent on them, that money's not coming back unless if someone else agrees to reimburse the gov't on that. Ultimately tax money is the people's money under the control of the government. Unless the people agree, its not supposed to be used outside of helping the citizens.
Its kinda shitty I know but its shitty both ways. If the local gov't pays, then the people feel robbed, if the local government doesn't pay then the government looks like a dick for choosing inaction.
That's why the foreign ministry is getting down to negotiate funding of the transport for foreign victims. They recognize that the victims families probably can't readily pay for that kinda thing but also they recognize they can't do all of it outta pocket. They have to have a guarantee that there is some other source of money that they can use without issue.
TL;DR Its not that if there is money, it should be spent. There are a lot of strings attached to that money.
this saddens me.
who won't pay? the government or the victim's relatives?? imo the government is only responsible for their citizens
under most countries laws, if their are foreigners within the borders who are hurt or injured in someway, without other proper financial means, it's the responsibility of the government to accommodate the foreigner. for example, in italy, people visiting will have the same access to free healthcare as citizens of italy.
anyway, the whole situation was a result of poor infrastructure / urban planning - which the government is also responsible for. funding the transportation of the victims back to their homes is the least they can do.
Display MoreTbh if I were in the boots of any local government politician, it'd make no sense to pay for transportation.
A nice gesture would be to set up an official fund that people can donate to, however.
Or muster up local resources to offer a (hopefully cheaper) option that doesn't profit or lose money. Aka, the government will take requests for transport and then arrange local transport options to help the bodies along. That'd earn my vote in my book if I were there -- a politician that knows to thread the needle. Between looking like a dick and not spending tax money on wantonly.
In the end no one could really have foresaw this kind of expense; no one looks forward to a tragedy. It'd be nice if people stepped up but ultimately the government literally has no obligation to do anything except for their own citizens.
Exactly this yes it would be a good gesture for our government to pay for it, but in reality they only have an obligation to us Koreans (even if they suck ass alot of times) the real shame is the fact this actress had to pay for it when that citizens country is the one who's obligated to bring it's citizens home dead or alive that is their job . I'm glad she's helping but those forgien countries should be doing that. The Korean gov does suck but one thing it never does is it won't leave a Korean behind even if you are forgien Born like korean American etc they will still get you if you ask.
under most countries laws, if their are foreigners within the borders who are hurt or injured in someway, without other proper financial means, it's the responsibility of the government to accommodate the foreigner. for example, in italy, people visiting will have the same access to free healthcare as citizens of italy.
anyway, the whole situation was a result of poor infrastructure / urban planning - which the government is also responsible for. funding the transportation of the victims back to their homes is the least they can do.
Can't really say it's poor urban planning when many Asian countries have cities designed with Smaller streets and alleyways that branch off from huge main streets. You should seriously look into history before spouting nonsense. Itaewon was never that popular nor was the population projected to be that big the people that designed the area could not foresee that some 70yrs in the future that a smaller street would see 100+k people jammed in it. Besides changing it to make it bigger would have been a nearly impossible task today, how do you convince every home and business owner to move? How do you go about bulldozing and somehow moving all those buildings elsewhere?? You would have to figure out a way to expand the entire city again as every piece of land is calculated before this happened so if you moved all the buildings over say 30m then everything else needs to move 30m too itaewon was never envisioned to be what it is today.
If foreigners work in SK, then they pay taxes just like SK citizens. Any SK citizen that has a problem with the SK government paying a few thousand dollars (for the few foreigners that died) to ship their bodies are just plain xenophobic/racist. It's probably less than what the SK government pay for coffee in a month, or take as a bribe at any given time.
Can't really say it's poor urban planning when many Asian countries have cities designed with Smaller streets and alleyways that branch off from huge main streets. You should seriously look into history before spouting nonsense. Itaewon was never that popular nor was the population projected to be that big the people that designed the area could not foresee that some 70yrs in the future that a smaller street would see 100+k people jammed in it. Besides changing it to make it bigger would have been a nearly impossible task today, how do you convince every home and business owner to move? How do you go about bulldozing and somehow moving all those buildings elsewhere?? You would have to figure out a way to expand the entire city again as every piece of land is calculated before this happened so if you moved all the buildings over say 30m then everything else needs to move 30m too itaewon was never envisioned to be what it is today.
Adding on this: a lot of cities were built small at their beginning; A lot of older cities in america, for example only have streets wide enough for pedestrians and the occasional horse carriage living in those historic districts its hard to drive cars around but everything is within walking distance regardless.
Unless they did something like Shenzhen where the Central government of china at the time Threw in Billions of yuan and countless lives to first plan out and make a port city from the ground up, the vision of the future from the past is hardly congruent to the present.
I would say though it isn't unfair to say that the current city isn't handling that many people well. Just that there's more nuance than "bad design" It is bad design, sure but that's because it was designed for a different future in mind. @VioletBobaTea You weren't wrong, per se but "poor urban planning" smoothed over too many details to be considered entirely correct.
Adding on this: a lot of cities were built small at their beginning; A lot of older cities in america, for example only have streets wide enough for pedestrians and the occasional horse carriage living in those historic districts its hard to drive cars around but everything is within walking distance regardless.
Unless they did something like Shenzhen where the Central government of china at the time Threw in Billions of yuan and countless lives to first plan out and make a port city from the ground up, the vision of the future from the past is hardly congruent to the present.
I would say though it isn't unfair to say that the current city isn't handling that many people well. Just that there's more nuance than "bad design" It is bad design, sure but that's because it was designed for a different future in mind. @VioletBobaTea You weren't wrong, per se but "poor urban planning" smoothed over too many details to be considered entirely correct.
i could've gone in depth, but it's not the sort of thing i want to flesh out on a k-pop forum
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