Illicit Waste Dumping “Corrupted Stench”

A “waste mountain” in a small village of only 100 residents was the result of collaboration between corrupted civil officers, town residents, local environmental group members, and pseudo-reporters. It was a case that clearly showed the rampant corruption in our society.

In the last four years, the corporation has been throwing away the waste illicitly and secretly, and the related officers neglected to take care of the matters in return of accepting bribery. The profit earned through illicit land filling was 20 billion won; undoing of the contamination was 30 billion won.

Shameless Civil Officers—

Civil officer Kim (37) of the Pochun City Hall visited the corporation’s working sites under the pretense of “map inspection” to collect bribe money. It was found that he demanded 65 million won for his estate fee and 35 million won for his credit card bills.

Other civil workers were found to have taken advantage of the case as well. One employee of the city hall touted two rocks that were found during the construction work as the plaque of the corporate building for 1,500,000 won, while another worker sold 70 boxes of grape for 1,400,000 won.

“Notorious Yellow Bedbug”—

A town resident, Cho (69, farmer), was called the “notorious yellow bedbug” by the construction workers. He would constantly show up at the work site in his yellow motorcycle to collect his “fee.” According to the report, he has taken 21,600,000 won from the corporation from January 2001 to March 2004. The police reported that he would ask for three million won, saying that he needed to buy a car for his son. The town representative Jo (44) threatened the corporate by asking, “What is the deal with the pile of waste that keeps accumulating?” and extorted a total of 1,800,000 won.

Pseudo News Reporter and Environmental Group Members, and the Police—

Kim (61), who disguised as an environmental newspaper reporter, Kim (49), a reporter of the local newspaper, and Yoo (56), the president of an environmental newspaper, are under arrest for receiving bribery as well. They each received between 2,800,000 ~ 6,900,000 won from the corporation after threatening to publicize the waste land filling.

Other town residents Kim (50) and Lee (50) disguised themselves as environmentalists, wearing marked hats and uniforms. They each received 1,600,000 won and 800,000 won. The police said that they also carried around false IDs and environmental group membership cards.

Lee (38), a police officer of the Seocho branch, is under arrest for tipping Pochun Chief Lee of the inspection circumstances.

A corporation that had illicitly dumped 46,000 tons of chemical waste in the nearby creek in Kyungki North Province, has recently been arrested. Also, related officers, town residents, and others who have received bribery from the corporation were also prosecuted.

The police arrested the president of Shinbook Corporation, Choi (64), and the factory manager, Lim (49), and two other employees for illicitly throwing away chemical waste.

The prosecution also indicted Pochun City Chief Lee (44) and two other civil officers for receiving bribery and tolerating the corporation’s illegal actions. Also, a director of an environmental newspaper, Kim (61), town resident, Cho (69), town representative, Jo (44), and four others were also arrested.

The prosecution reported that Choi certified the corporation as a recycling company, claiming that they would “recycle the sludge into bricks,” and made 20 billion won profit by illicitly dumping 46,000 ton of sludge waste. The land filling area was 9,000 pyong in size. According to the police, “It is technically impossible to produce bricks through sludge.”

Prosecution reported, “Because the land filling area is near Pochunchun, which is connected to the Hantan River, restoration is inevitable.” However, it is estimated that because the waste pile is over five meters high and part of the pile are turned into mires, total rehabilitation will cost 30 billion won.

The police also reported that the corporation sent 20 million won as bribery and made a “bribery note” to document the name, time, and place of the bribery.

Sang-Rok Lee Jin-Young Hwang myzodan@donga.com buddy@donga.com