"My Handpicked County Governor"..., Wanju County Office Appeals 'Unfairness' Amid Criticism of 'Administrative Procedure Negligence'

Wanju-gun Soyang-myeon Toilet Paper Manufacturer Hong's 3.1 Billion Won Loss

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] Hong (female), who runs a toilet paper manufacturing company in Soyang-myeon, Wanju-gun, is appealing her grievance, saying that the administrative procedures of Wanju-gun Office have been negligent and passive, causing her severe difficulties.

The toilet paper company operated by Hong had been profitable for over 10 years and grew into a leading company in Wanju-gun.

However, recently, Wanju-gun Office imposed a provisional seizure of a huge amount of 3.1 billion KRW on the company, and the toilet paper company was forcibly terminated from its contract by the head office. This is due to the head office’s contract termination policy in case of provisional seizure.

The background of the contract termination lies in the fact that CEO Hong became the new owner of Y Industry in Bongdong, Wanju, by winning the auction.

The former owner of Y Industry, Jin, had a general waste treatment capacity of about 670 tons, but he stored about 5,000 tons of waste and had his permit canceled by Wanju-gun Office in April 2016, before Hong won the auction in June 2017.

The problem is that while Wanju-gun Office canceled Jin’s business license for general waste treatment, it did not cancel the business license for waste collection and transportation, which Jin also held, allowing continuous inflow of waste to Y Industry. As of January this year, about 13,000 tons of waste had accumulated.

Regarding this, Hong said, “I cannot understand why Wanju-gun Office canceled Jin’s waste treatment license but kept the collection and transportation license,” and added, “Wanju-gun Office must have known since 2015 that this was a problematic site... Because of that, waste trucks kept coming in, and over 10,000 tons of waste piled up.”

In response, a Wanju-gun Office official said, “The cancellation of Jin’s waste treatment license was due to exceeding the permitted usage by a large margin,” and “The collection and transportation license was not canceled because it is currently under litigation, so we cannot provide detailed information.”

Hong also lamented, “Although the second trial is ongoing, we lost the first trial because during the first trial my husband was diagnosed with cancer and could not respond, and the most important thing was that there was persuasion from officials, so I trusted the officials.”

According to Hong, last fall she was called to Wanju-gun Office by the head of the Environment Department, the team leader, and a staff member. The officials said, “It is regrettable that you did not do what you should have done,” and asked her to write down everything that had happened, which she did and submitted.

When this reporter asked about the use of the written statement Hong gave to the Wanju-gun officials, the office said, “Since there was a personnel transfer and no previous records were received, we only received the statement but did not use it in the trial,” and explained, “In administration, documents are used to review past materials and take administrative procedures.”

When asked, “Then did you receive the statement because there was no document prepared by the predecessor?” Wanju-gun Office did not respond.

At this meeting, the responsible staff member said that to carry out administrative enforcement, they intended to send a procedural warning letter and asked for understanding. The team leader and department head said, “It is painful not to be able to exercise property rights, and to clear environmental corruption, we ask for cooperation to proceed with administrative enforcement procedures so that we can claim compensation from those who committed illegal acts.”

On that day, Wanju-gun officials also asked Hong for the keys to access the site for administrative enforcement, and after she gave them, she complained, “Later, the officials changed the keys to something else.”

Regarding this, a Wanju-gun official said, “We apologized for changing the keys without consultation after receiving them,” and added, “Currently, administrative enforcement at this site is suspended and not being carried out.”

When asked why administrative enforcement could not be carried out, the official said, “Since it is a court decision, I do not know the details, but personally, I think the court issued a stay of execution because there would be significant losses to private property.”

The former owner, Jeon, claimed by Hong to have “illegally accepted cash to bring in a huge amount of illegal waste and gained unfair profits,” was responded to by Wanju-gun Office as, “There is only circumstantial suspicion about cash payments and waste accumulation, but no evidence, and since it is under litigation, we cannot provide details,” emphasizing the ongoing lawsuit.

When the former owner Jin, at the center of the issue, was asked by text message, “I heard you accepted cash and piled up waste during the auction; is this true?” (as the call did not connect), there was no reply.

Meanwhile, in a face-to-face meeting with this reporter, Hong said, “I endured through the IMF crisis and overcame all difficulties, but I feel deeply wronged and unfair that the administration and government agencies could do this to an individual,” and pleaded, “I never expected that the county governor I elected with my own hands would do this to me.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.