Korea, China Team Up to Fight Pollution

The audit and inspection authorities of the ROK and China are expected to launch a joint yellow dust prevention project as early as next year. A joint inspection of West Sea environmental issues is expected to follow.

A source of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) of Korea said on November 10, “With Ha Bok-dong, a manager of BAI, as the head of the team, 15 auditors will visit Beijing, China from December 6-7 to discuss ways of cooperation in dealing with yellow dust. In the working group meeting next month, we will raise the issue of pollution of West Sea.” He added, “When we start cooperation in dealing with yellow dust, we will be able to cooperate in tackling pollution in the West Sea.”

If the joint audit on pollution of the West Sea is realized, Korea is expected to conduct an inspection on the dumping of waste that amounts to 100,000 tons annually, while China will focus on the discharge of wastewater by plants near the West Sea.

The BAI conducted an inspection on the prevention of marine pollution from November 15 to December 16, 2004. The results will be announced this month.

The BAI is reported to plan to point out in the announcement that the cost of collecting and handling waste that absorbed salt is astronomical, and that the waste piling up on the tidelands is leading to great damage to the fishing industry.

Meanwhile, the BAI will conduct a joint inspection with China to prevent yellow dust for the first time in Asia.

An official of BAI said, “To prevent yellow dust, the Korean government has invested about 600 million won in China. As the investment of capital and technologies will certainly increase, we decided to cooperate with China.”

Jeon Yun-cheol, the head of the BAI of Korea, first proposed a joint inspection on yellow dust issues to his Chinese and Japanese counterparts in a meeting of the International Organization of Supreme Audit and Inspection (INTOSAI) that was held in Budapest, Hungary on October 12, 2004.

Hyung-June Park lovesong@donga.com