`Water Leaking in Lower Part of Keumgangsan Dam`

An expert on dam construction raised an opinion that water is leaking in the lower part of Keumgangsan Dam that North Korea is constructing in the upper stream of the North Han River.

Dam expert Choi Seok-bum (a water resource management technician) who participated in the design stage of `Peace Dam` in South side said on May 2, `Several water streams are likely to be leaking in the lower part of Keumgangsan Dam,` in view of the high resolution satellite photos.

Mr. Choi added, `Generally speaking, as the base of a zone fill dam is constructed upon hard rock and measures several meters in its width, it is hard to understand how the water in the reservoir can infiltrate the wide barrier,` and added, `Commonly a spill way is constructed to prepare for a flood period during the main construction stage of dam after completing the water-blocking stage, but I can not see any facility that is similar to a spill way in Keumgangsan dam.`

He explained that maybe some structures in the left of Keumgangsan dam may be regarded as a spill way, but the construction period is too long to finish it till the beginning of the rainy season, and facilities discharging water to the downstream such as water gates are hard to recognize.

Mr. Choi said, `In case of a zone fill dame where a collapse of dam in a ten thousand years is assumed, the water leakage is fatal, so the leakage should not allowed in principle,` and added, `It is urgent to prepare countermeasures in addition to the understanding of the exact status of leakage.`

Mr. Choi urged, in a thesis titled, `The effect of Keumgangsan dam construction to the water system of Han river`, the government to prepare alternative measures based on various scenarios since damages are unimaginable when the dam is collapsed due to careless construction, and calculated that 30 billion Won`s worth of water usage and power generation losses are incurred annually as the incoming water into Paldang dam decrease about 1.7 billion tons due to the construction of Keumgangsan dam,

cschoi@donga.com