President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with an emergency rescue worker at the entrance to an underground parking garage at an apartment complex in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. The parking lot was flooded when Typhoon Hinnamnor hit the port city a day earlier, and rescue workers saved two survivors and recovered the bodies of seven people. Joint Press Corps

President Yoon Suk-yeol Wednesday designated the southeastern cities of Pohang and Gyeongju as a special disaster zone after they were hit by Typhoon Hinnamnor.

Yoon said he would carry out all procedures necessary for the designation as soon as possible and provide emergency funds to people in Pohang, about 270 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

As a special disaster zone, Pohang and Gyeongju will be eligible for financial support from the government for recovery work, relief funds for victims and other benefits.

Nine people were pulled from a flooded parking garage in Pohang between late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Two survived, while the seven others were found in a state of cardiac arrest and later pronounced dead.

All of them had been trapped in the underground parking lot of an apartment complex in Pohang after going there to move their cars amid heavy downpours brought on by the typhoon.

Yoon, who stayed at his office until past midnight to oversee the response to the typhoon, said he spent a "sleepless night" after the tragedy.