South Korea: Another massive oil spill...


BBC reports that oil from a damaged tanker has reached South Korea's west coast, not far from a nature reserve.

Emergency workers in Taean region are battling to stop the slick, now up to 20km (12 miles) long, from harming wildlife and valuable sea farms. More than 10,000 metric tons of oil began leaking into the sea from Hebei Spirit, a single-hull oil tanker. Korean Maritime officials say it is the country's worst oil spill since 1995, when 5,000 tonnes of oil washed onto the country's southern coast.

The incident occurred off Daesan Port, home to the Hyundai Oilbank refinery that was the Hebei Spirit's destination, northwest of the Taean peninsula. Taean County, southwest of Seoul, is known for its rich seafood resources, such as fish and seaweed farms. The Taean Marine National Park encompasses about 130 islands, and the area is famed for tourism spots such as Mallipo Beach, Chollipo Beach and Anmyeon Island. Its low hills and pine-fringed beaches and inlets are among Korea's most popular vacation getaways...

BBC: S Korea oil slick reaches shore



Does political views influence the news? Right-wing newspaper Chosun Ilbo is not reporting about this on its English website, while KBS, the official news organ had a brief summary of events yesterday. Left-leaning Donga Ilbo says more than 15,000 tons of oil has leaked from the ship, and that the crude stuff "is expected to harm sea farms". Photo of cleanup efforts at Mallipo Beach from The Korea Herald.

I found the Taean official tourist website. The region is famous as a film location, with the romantic tragedy Bungee Jumping of Their Own shot here in 2000.

Meanwhile, South Korea's dependence on Middle Eastern countries for oil imports remains high, with concerns that Asia's fourth-largest economy would be threatened by supply disruptions in the region as oil prices continue to climb. South Korea has no proven oil reserves.

Hebei Ocean Shipping Co., Ltd is based in Hong Kong and they have a pretty cool logo, with a dragon trying to strangle the Earth. They own the ship but will they take any responsibility? Yonhap notes that the accident could cause compensation payments of as much as 300 billion won (US$330 million) from British Lloyd P&I, the insurance company for the barge, and from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, an intergovernmental organization that provides compensation for damage caused by oil spills from tankers.

According to the IOPC website, 7 of 10 recent ongoing incidents involve oil spills occuring in South Korea.

Comments

Pandabonium said…
I remember a very clever ad by Greenpeace back when the Exxon Valdez wreck and disastrous oil spill occurred. It said something like, "it wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. It was yours."
8:03 pm, December 11, 2007
Martin J Frid said…
No wonder Greenpeace irritates a few people. The truth hurts.
9:14 pm, December 11, 2007
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