Han River still dirty after new law

It has been a year since the implementation of the laws for water quality control of the streams feeding into the Han River system.

However, due to the failure of appropriate control of the three main focuses of the laws, which designates areas around the stream for protection from developers and the management of the level of pollution released, the governmental measure to clean and bring life back to the Han River has failed.

The failure of the governmental measure was presented at the symposium for the analysis and evaluation of the effect of the law for the revival of the Han River. The symposium was held at the Seoul Christian Hall through the support of this vernacular newspaper and the Citizens` Movement for Environmental Justice, and led by the Committee for the Let`s Save Water of Life Movement.

According to an official at the Citizen¡¯s Movement for Environmental Justice, Seo Wang-Jin, ¡°Initially, all designated river buffer zone was supposed to be purchased by the government, however, as of August 2, only 13% of year 2000 target figure of 12.875 billion won was spent¡±

"The protected areas only affected the national parks or land owned by the government,¡± Jeong Yong-Ho, chief of soil and water conservation laboratory at Korea Forest Research Institute, said. ¡°As such, it really had no effect."

Lee Ki-Young, head researcher at the Economic Development Research Institution, pointed to a simple lack of enforcement. "There really isn`t any incentive for pollution control for the individuals who are affected by the policy,¡± Lee said. ¡°As such, no one observes the law."