(LEAD) Yoon orders all-out efforts against spring wildfires

(ATTN: UPDATES with evacuation of residents, other details)

SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed relevant authorities Sunday to make all-out efforts to put out and prevent spring wildfires, his office said.

Yoon issued the message following reports of wildfires on Mount Inwang, near the previous location of South Korea's presidential office, and a mountain in Hongseong, 114 kilometers south of Seoul.

As of 2:30 p.m., some 580 officials and nine helicopters had been mobilized to put out the blaze on Mount Inwang that broke out shortly before noon. There have been no reports of deaths or injuries caused by it.

Authorities have banned entry to the mountain, with residents in nearby areas being evacuated. Some 120 households already have been evacuated.

Some 0.23 square kilometers of land, equivalent to the size of 32 football fields, have been destroyed by the wildfire.

Yoon ordered the National Fire Agency and the National Forest Service to use all possible resources to extinguish the fires, and called on the interior and defense ministries to support the efforts, presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a written briefing.

mlee@yna.co.kr
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