PRESIDENT MOON VISITS FLOOD-HIT AREAS

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday visited flood-hit areas in Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeollanam-do and Chungcheonnam-do provinces. He vowed to designate the areas as special disaster zones, including small administrative units.

[Pkg]

​The first stop of President Moon Jae-in's tour was Hwagae Market in Hadong, Gyeongsangnam-do Province.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "Seeing it firsthand makes me realize how extensive the damage is and how devastated the vendors and residents must be now."

President Moon pledged to do his best to provide support to the victims of recent floods as soon as possible. He then visited Gurye in Jeollanam-do Province, where cattle farmers have sustained serious damage.

[Soundbite] JEON YONG-JOO(YANGJEONG VILLAGE CHIEF, GURYE, JEOLLANAM-DO PROV.) : "Because of the flood, about 50 percent of the cattle have died."

[Soundbite] "It must be devastating for livestock and agricultural farmers to see their hard work go to waste in just one moment."

In Cheonan, the final stop of the president's trip, locals complained about massive damage from this year's monsoon rains. During his unprecedented tour of three regions in a single day, the president received reports on the move to save time. He urged the authorities to designate flood-hit areas as special disaster zones as soon as possible. He even instructed his administration to designate small administrative units as disaster zones in areas where the designation of entire cities or counties is impossible. The president expressed his gratitude to volunteers, and urged the government to prepare resting facilities for them. President Moon minimized formalities to avoid causing inconvenience to restoration workers, and took a KTX train instead of his official vehicle to travel back to Seoul.