Young Poong, a zinc smelting operation in Korea, has been charged with releasing polluted wastewater from its Seokpo facility that has contaminated groundwater and a nearby river, according to Business Wire. As a result, the Korean government ordered the facility, the sixth-largest such operation in the world, to shut down for two months.
The incident marks yet another instance of a corporate resource extraction operation flouting the rules at the expense of the environment. It's also not the first time the company has been accused of major pollution violations.
What's happening?
The Korea Herald has reported that Korea's Environment Ministry found distressingly high levels of cadmium in the Nakdong River near the Seokpo smelter. Cadmium is a toxic metal found naturally in the Earth's crust and is often released to the environment in mining operations.
The Environment Ministry reportedly detected cadmium levels in the Nakdong back in 2019 that were an astonishing 4,578 times what they should be.
According to Reuters, the Gyeongsangbuk-do provincial government ordered Young Poong to halt operations in 2021, but the company has been appealing the decision ever since. The Korean Supreme Court dismissed Young Poong's final appeal in November.
"At the time, the relevant authorities confirmed that cadmium from the facility contaminated the soil and groundwater through the factory floor and leaked into the Nakdong River," a source told the Korea Herald. "Without any official apology for the incident, Young Poong has been filing suits to reverse administrative punishments for five years."
The company has reportedly been accused of breaking at least 76 environmental laws over the past decade. In August, Young Poong's CEO was arrested after several safety-related deaths at the Seokpo facility, as reported by Reuters.
Why is this pollution so serious?
The Nakdong River is the longest waterway in Korea and, according to a study in the journal Environmental Pollution, is a source of drinking water for at least 6.6 million people.
Cadmium is a known carcinogen and is devastating to the liver, kidneys, and skeleton, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. It bioaccumulates in animals and plants, so it's a deeply persistent pollutant that is difficult to get rid of.
Children are particularly at risk from drinking contaminated water, according to the Minnesota Department of Health, as their fast-growing bones are most susceptible to cadmium toxicity.
What's being done about the pollution?
Young Poong has been ordered to shut down their operation for two months. The company was ordered to pay a fine of KRW 10 million ($7,168 USD), per Business Wire.
"What Young Poong has done is not a coincidence. These are planned crimes," the civic group Solidarity for Economic Reform said in a statement.
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