Iksan City Humbly Accepts Audit Results of Jangjeom Village... Regrets Lack of System Improvements

Jujeongbak (Alcohol Residue) Unrelated to Carcinogenic Tobacco Dust

Waste disposal company Geumgang Nongsan Co., Ltd.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hong Jae-hee] Iksan City, Jeonbuk, expressed its intention to humbly accept the recent public audit results of Jangjeom Village and also expressed regret over the need for system improvement.

On the 12th, the city announced that it would accept the audit results of Jangjeom Village announced by the Board of Audit and Inspection and promote follow-up measures for healing and prevention of recurrence.

At the same time, the city stated that it is necessary to clarify the responsibility of KT&G, which provided tobacco stems, and for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Environment to improve the system to prevent recurrence.

The Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of an audit conducted on Iksan City regarding Jangjeom Village on the 6th, pointing out five illegal and improper matters including improper acceptance of waste recycling reports and negligence in waste disposal confirmation, and requested disciplinary action against related public officials.

In addition, as a measure to prevent recurrence, it notified that the misconduct of the then responsible personnel whose disciplinary statute of limitations had expired should be used as personnel data.

Accordingly, the city accepted the audit results and decided to dismiss one related public official who handled licensing and supervision duties inappropriately and refer two others to the disciplinary committee.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, the city improperly accepted the waste recycling change report submitted by Geumgang Nongsan Co., Ltd. in May 2009, resulting in continuous emission of air pollutants and odors during the high-temperature drying process for producing organic fertilizer.

It was found that the change report submitted by Geumgang Nongsan at that time included a plan to use distiller's grains, which can only be used as compost raw material, as raw material for organic fertilizer.

In this regard, the city was supposed to conduct regular inspections twice a year on the waste disposal company Geumgang Nongsan Co., Ltd., but it was revealed that only two inspections were conducted from 2009 to 2016.

The city acknowledged the improper acceptance of the waste recycling change report and negligence in inspections and apologized.

On the other hand, the city said, "It is very regrettable that distiller's grains, which were pointed out as improperly accepted in this audit, were indicated in a way that could mislead citizens into thinking they are carcinogenic substances, unlike tobacco stems, which were announced as a cause of cancer in an epidemiological investigation by the Ministry of Environment last November."

Furthermore, the city added, "Although the legal management standards for the risks of tobacco stems were insufficient, this audit was conducted only on the management and supervision of waste companies in Iksan City. It is regrettable that there was no indication regarding the responsibility of KT&G, which entrusted the processing of tobacco stems to Geumgang Nongsan Co., Ltd., and the need for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Environment to revise the Fertilizer Control Act and the Air Environment Conservation Act to prevent recurrence."

Mayor Jeong Heon-yul said, "I humbly accept the audit results and deeply apologize for the incident caused by the negligence of past public officials, taking heavy responsibility as the current mayor," and added, "We will devote all efforts to the healing of Jangjeom Village residents, resolving the situation, and preventing recurrence of environmental pollution accidents."

Meanwhile, as follow-up measures for Jangjeom Village, the city is promoting 12 projects in 3 areas, and has completed a total of 6 projects including the removal of internally buried waste at Geumgang Nongsan Co., Ltd., which caused the environmental disaster in Jangjeom Village, and the removal of contaminated soil in surrounding environments such as reservoirs and rice paddies.

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