Korean Companies Caught Dumping 3,000 Tons of Dangerous Chemicals Into the Han River
For those of us who were in Korea in 2000 when the Yongsan Water Dumping Incident happened this news about 25 companies dumping toxic chemicals in the Han River with hardly any outrage shows the entire hypocrisy of what happened back in 2000:
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday it has caught 25 companies releasing wastewater polluted with hazardous chemicals into the Han River.
Most of the polluters are small and medium-sized enterprises operating factories to make textiles and metals, according to the municipality. But it refused to disclose their names.
The city government suspected the firms discharged nearly 3,000 tons of wastewater poisoned with potassium cyanide, chromium, lead, copper and phenol, all of which should be tightly regulated for its potential health risks.
The city found the illegal wastewater release after taking samples from 52 locations along the river during an inspection that began in April.
“The city received tips about their illegal activities,” a city inspection officer said. “We know there are businesses which have released hazardous chemicals into the river. This year, inspection has been stricter because of a drought. If factories upstream leak chemicals, it could cause serious damage to drinking water for Seoul residents.”
The Han River is a major source of drinking water in Seoul and its surrounding areas.
The inspector said the level of potassium cyanide found in water was 765 times higher than the permitted amount. The amount of chromium was 10 times more than the allowable limit. The level of lead, copper and phenol showed 4,098 times, 628 times and 222 times, respectively, higher than the regulated cap. [The Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but this is just another example of why I do not recommend drinking tap water in Korea. To put this pollution in perspective South Korea went into a anti-American hatefest over 20 gallons of formaldehyde that was diluted first by running water, then was processed through the Seoul waste treatment system, and finally through the Nanjido central metropolitan treatment plant along with 1.9 million gallons of other sewage and waste. Here we have 3,000 tons of potassium cyanide, chromium, lead, copper and phenol dumped in the Han River with little criticism.
5 years after the 20 gallon(?) dumping in 2000 I had a Korean ask me if I can smell anything as we got off a subway(I forgot which station). I exclaimed…”Yes!” And he said it was from the U.S. military illegally polluting the Han River. Those dirty servicethemselfmembers!
Only foreigners are hypocritical, never Koreans. Please understand their situation.
Don’t forget about the battery acid dumped into a hole in the ground at Camp Page in the 1970s. Didn’t Korean officials hold up transfer of the property back to the ROK out of environmental concerns? There was outrage about a U.S. military post having ground pollution after nearly 50 years of use.
This why I questioned the $63 million estimate for closing down Suwon AB. Any airfield that’s been active for over 50 years will have a significant amount of ground contamination.
Maybe the difference between how the media feels about a Korean facility’s contamination and contamination from a foreigner used facility is that the Korean **stuff** don’t stink.
Having driven through rice-growing areas in many countries, I can safely say that everyone’s stuff stinks.
And the complaints are all part of the real estate negotiations. And fodder for the low-information voters who actually believed the guy who said “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
*Sparkling!*
@3- Bruce the pollution concerns on Camp Page are valid considering how long the camp was open. However, the claims of Agent Orange which was a major issue before were never validated. The more recent allegations of Agent Orange at Camp Carroll were never validated either, but it didn’t stop the usual suspects from complaining.
The bottom line is that there will be pollution based on how long these camps have been open just like there will be pollution on Suwon Airbase. However, the usual suspects will ignore the ROK pollution and sensationalize as much as possible USFK pollution to continue their effort to drive a wedge between the Korean public and USFK.