Korean officials vowed Tuesday to step up safety standards at camping sites throughout the country after a fire last week at one of the grounds left five people dead, including three children.

Government officials and lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party agreed to clamp down on unregistered camping sites by conducting a nationwide investigation of camping grounds.

Staff and guests of lodging grounds will be obligated to take safety classes before using the facilities. A task force aiming to prevent accidents will also be created.

They will also urge owners of unregistered sites to close down or change their type of business and specify current safety regulations, which have been accused of having loopholes and unclear wording. The strengthened rules will standardize fire equipment requirements and tent textiles, as well as the uses of combustible materials and electricity. Officials are also considering imposing safety ratings on camping sites.

Critics, however, pointed out that the proposals already overlap with a series of safety laws passed in January by amending the Tourism Promotion Act to obligate camping ground owners to register their sites with local governments, while central government officials must ensure safety regulations.

Violators are subject to up to two years in prison and 20 million won ($18,000) in fines. The rules are set to take effect in February next year.

The revisions were the result of a bipartisan effort to strengthen camping safety across Korea, until last week’s tragedy exposed the loopholes and belatedness of the safety laws.

Two families sleeping in a tent at a camping site in Incheon, a port city just west of Seoul, were engulfed by a fire that overtook their tent in seconds last Sunday. Two adults and three children were killed. A man nearby rescued a fourth child. The cause remains under investigation.

Law enforcement officials are looking into whether the camping site owner violated construction laws by not installing fire equipment. Police are also checking whether local officials condoned the safety violations and if they received kickbacks in the process.

Camping-related industries in South Korea have been on the rise in the last decade. Sales in outdoor equipment such as tents, sleeping bags and bivouac tools reached the 600 billion won mark last year.

But public awareness about safety regulations appears to have been low.

Saenuri Rep. Han Sun-kyo on Tuesday asserted that only 97 of the nation’s 1,800 camping sites had received regular fire inspections.

The Saenuri Party’s policy committee chair Rep. Won Yoo-chul echoed such concerns.

“Many camping grounds are often hastily installed tents on privately-owned land,” he said. “They are likely to be exposed to the dangers posed by natural disasters such as floods and avalanches.”

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)