'Eight-Year Dispute over Responsibility': Hanam City Wins First-Instance Ruling in Lawsuit Against Han River Basin Environmental Office

【Financial News | Hanam, Gyeonggi Province = Kim Kyung-soo】Hanam City has won at first instance in a legal dispute over responsibility for cleaning up soil contamination on former river land along the Han River in Misa-dong, Hanam.
Hanam City said on the 2nd that Suwon District Court had dismissed the plaintiff's suit on the 28th of last month, in a case filed by the Han River Basin Environmental Office seeking confirmation that the cleanup order was invalid.
The court also ordered the plaintiff, the Han River Basin Environmental Office, to pay the legal costs. The lawsuit concerned who should clean up the contaminated soil on state-owned former river land around Lot 643 in Misa-dong, Hanam, and who should bear the costs.
Former river land refers to land excluded from an existing river area due to river improvement works or changes in the watercourse. The site in question is state-owned and has been used since 1998 as an aggregate stockyard for storing and processing sand, gravel and other materials.
The operator at the time was Woosung Industry Development Co., an aggregate producer. The company was reportedly founded by Lee Ki-heung, former president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC). Lee Ki-yoon, chairman of Heungkuk Industry and younger brother of the former president, has also been mentioned in connection with the company's operations and responsibility for post-closure handling.
After the company shut down, the site was left unattended for a long time, bringing the issue of dealing with the contaminated soil to the fore. In the local community, concerns were raised that the company had dissolved without fulfilling its waste-disposal obligations, along with calls to clarify responsibility for environmental pollution caused during its operations.
A detailed soil investigation conducted by Hanam City in 2018 confirmed fluorine contamination in former river land beside the Misari Rowing Regatta Course, near the Han River Water Source Protection Zone. The concentration reached a maximum of 2,745 mg/kg, about seven times the statutory limit of 400 mg/kg. With soil cleanup deemed necessary, disagreements between the state and Hanam City over responsibility for the cleanup also came to the fore in earnest.
The city considered the state, as owner of the contaminated land, responsible for cleanup under the Soil Environment Conservation Act and, in December 2018, issued a cleanup order to the Seoul Regional Construction Management Administration, which managed the state-owned land. The state maintained that the city also bore responsibility, saying, “Hanam City was also involved in permitting, managing and overseeing the aggregate stockyard.”
After responsibility for managing national rivers was transferred from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the Ministry of Environment, the Han River Basin Environmental Office took charge of the site and filed an administrative lawsuit in May 2022 seeking to have Hanam City's cleanup order invalidated. However, the court dismissed the suit filed by the office.
The city hopes the ruling will help bring an end to the eight-year dispute over responsibility for cleaning up state-owned land.
Jang Dong-su, head of the Environmental Guidance Team at Hanam City Hall, said, “I hope the long-running issue of responsibility for cleanup will be resolved promptly in the wake of this ruling,” adding, “We will work to clean up the contaminated soil as soon as possible so residents can use the Han River waterfront without worry, and to restore it as a safe and pleasant place.”
[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter