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Photo courtesy of Young Poong Corporation |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] A South Korean appellate court has acknowledged the likelihood that cadmium contamination in the vicinity of Young Poong Corporation’s Seokpo Smelter originated from the facility itself. While the court upheld a not-guilty verdict for former and current company executives, it noted that the environmental pollution may have resulted from the smelter’s historical operational practices.
According to the ruling issued on July 24, the Daegu High Court stated, “It is highly probable that the cadmium pollution near the smelter stemmed from a lack of environmental awareness by Young Poong over an extended period, during which pollutants were either buried in the soil or wastewater was discharged.”
On July 17, the Criminal Division 1 of the Daegu High Court acquitted seven former and current executives of Young Poong, including former CEOs Kang In Lee and Young Min Park, as well as former Seokpo Smelter director Sang Yoon Bae, of charges related to violations of the Environmental Crime Control Act. The company itself was also found not guilty in the appeal ruling.
However, the court emphasized that, “Cadmium contamination found around the smelter is sufficiently attributable to the facility, rather than other nearby mines,” and added, “While it is not definitively proven, there are grounds to suspect that the defendants may have conspired to discharge cadmium—a designated water pollutant—into the Nakdong River, a public waterway.”
The ruling cited several factors as supporting evidence, including:
Persistent detection of cadmium above regulatory limits in groundwater both inside and outside the smelter premises;
The site’s geological features, including highly permeable alluvial soil layers and fractures, which facilitate groundwater flow from the smelter toward the river, allowing contaminants to reach the Nakdong River.
The court also noted that the smelter has been in continuous operation at the same location since 1970 and that “for a considerable time, there was little awareness of environmental pollution, and toxic substances were likely buried in soil or released without any preventive or mitigation measures.”
Additionally, the court pointed out the possibility of soil contamination caused by air pollutants. “Although there are no direct pollution sources near the smelter’s employee housing, significant cadmium levels have been found in the soil,” the ruling stated. “Studies suggest that airborne dust emitted between 1970 and 2015 alone could account for this contamination, which likely also contributed to pollution within the smelter grounds.”
The defendants were initially indicted for allegedly discharging cadmium-laden wastewater into the Nakdong River system over 1,000 times between 2015 and 2021. They also faced charges of violating environmental laws by contaminating over 27.7 million liters of nearby groundwater with heavy metals from November 2019 to October 2020.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
