Beyond Monetary Compensation: Relational Repair and the Politics of Reparation in South Korea’s Ecological Disasters

This paper examines how disaster reparation should be reconceptualized beyond monetary payments to focus on relational repair and community resilience in South Korea. Through ethnographic research examining compensation for climate disaster damage to southern coastal aquaculture farms and wildfire devastation in rural regions, we analyze the politics of reparation surrounding ecological disasters. Our findings demonstrate that current compensation mechanisms tend to focus narrowly on individualized economic losses while failing to address complex dimensions of harm, especially to community relationships and knowledge systems. Such approaches not only inadequately address the full scope of disaster impacts but can actively undermine community recovery by fracturing social bonds. Drawing comparative insights from South Korea’s transitional justice processes, we argue that effective ecological disaster reparation requires approaches that recognize both visible and invisible dimensions of harm, address forces that destroy relationships, and create conditions for genuine community revitalization. This analysis suggests alternative approaches to the politics of reparation that prioritize relational repair, community resilience, and sustainable recovery in the face of escalating climate challenges.