Dying from the Smell... Residents of Hangyang Gukgye Village Demand 'Pigsty Relocation' in Front of Heukdon Farming Association Representative's House

"Is the Pig the Master Over the Villagers?" Protest

About 30 residents of Gukgye Village are holding a rally.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] On the morning of the 20th, about 30 residents of Gukgye Village, Yurim-myeon, Hamyang-gun, Gyeongnam, gathered at the residence of the representative of Heukdon Agricultural Cooperative in Jigok-myeon to hold a rally.

About 30 residents of the Gukgye Village Odor Eradication Countermeasure Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) sat on the road in front of the Heukdon Farm representative's house holding placards saying, "Shut down the malicious company Heukdon Farm," "Compensate for the odor caused to the village," "Are pigs masters over villagers?" and "Relocate the company without facility investment," raising their voices demanding compensation for the suffering caused by the pigsty odor and the relocation of the pigsty.

Through a statement, the Committee claimed, "Park Young-sik, the representative of Heukdon Agricultural Cooperative, located at 700 Daegung-ri, Yurim-myeon, deceived some residents of the three villages Gukgye, Daechi, and Jaegung by inviting them on a tour bus under the pretext of a pilot farm visit before constructing an animal-related farm on October 8, 2003, and made the villagers stamp their approval."

They added, "This was the beginning of the surrounding villages suffering from the odor. At that time, the villagers were told it was a farm with 200 sows and a total of 200 pigs, also cultivating crops. The fact that the permit for 200 sows automatically approved 4,000 piglets was concealed."

In particular, they stated, "During the expansion on May 8, 2008, the expansion was carried out without notifying the villagers and by obtaining approval stamps from specific individuals without difficulty. The company received large amounts of government subsidies from national, provincial, and county funds, some of which were used to build the Kkamaeyo restaurant and grow into a so-called sixth industry company. If they were going to operate a corporate pigsty with government support, they should have built pigsties without windows to prevent villagers from suffering from odors. However, blinded by money, they built new Kkamaeyo facilities as a financial investment to pursue huge profits."

The Committee said, "Our village was a clean area before the pigsty came in," and demanded, "The representative of Heukdon Agricultural Cooperative should demolish the pigsty and relocate it to restore the area to a clean zone."

In response, a representative of Heukdon Agricultural Cooperative said, "The odor from the pigsty does not exceed legal standards," and added, "We believe that continuous efforts and improvements are needed to reduce the odor, which is a hardship for the residents. We plan to invest about 800 million won in total to supplement odor reduction facilities by the end of this year and will strive to alleviate residents' difficulties through future facility improvements such as enclosing the composting area and reinforcing the roof."

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