hankyoreh

Taean Marine National Park, in South Chungcheong Province, and specifically, areas like Mallipo and Mohang, is being buried under an oil slick approximately 40 to 50 meters wide, 40 kilometers in length and weighing 15,000 tons. The situation is far worse than the worst oil leak in Korean history, the Sea Prince accident 12 years ago. This time it is three times the amount of oil, and it is far more likely to spread this time because the leak occurred on the sea’s surface.

The most urgent need is to stop the oil’s spread. This is an area rich in natural life that is known for its natural beauty. The beach area at Mallipo and the sand dunes at Sinduri, a designated monument, have been covered with crude and forever lost their original features. Nearby Garorim Bay and Cheonsu Bay both have superior tidal flats, and are famous for their natural egg spawning and marine product breeding areas as well. The area is also a major stop for globe-trotting seasonal birds. If the slick spreads, it will lead to astronomical losses for fishermen and it will be a disaster for seasonal birds. They say it takes at least three years just to restore the surface, and the crude sediments that settle in can never be removed. The film of oil from the Sea Prince spread as far as the sea off of Pohang, some 230 kilometers from where the accident occurred, and lumps of crude showed up in Busan. It is at least fortunate that special forces from the marines have been called in to help.

The urgent need to stop the slick’s spread must not lead to a neglect of the investigation into why the accident happened and why there was a failure to stop the effects from spreading. When the accident occurred, on December 7, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries was optimistic, saying that the damage would be less than after the Sea Prince incident, because this time the spill was farther out at sea, and the fact that it is winter would help keep the slick from spreading as fast. You have to wonder whether there were not problems in the initial response. It took more than a day to stop the leak in the tanker, for confusion over how big the hole was. You hear it said every time something like this happens, but just as with other accidents involving ships that have spilled oil in the past, the ship involved in this latest accident did not fulfill the international regulation of having a double hull.

The limits of technology mean that once there is an oil leak, the effects will last between 10 to 100 years. This is what makes prevention so important. After the Sea Prince accident the government increased its spread-prevention capabilities tenfold and developed a command system for a better response. Nonetheless, there were 389 maritime accidents in 1999, then a rapid increase to 1,462 in 2004. Most were caused by a simple lack of safety awareness. This time the cause of this silly accident was a broken tugboat rope. Petty carelessness brought about a disastrous situation. Therefore what is needed are landmark measures meant to improve safety awareness. The investigation should be thorough, and one method of enacting change might be to apply the principle of having the polluter pay.



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