One Step Closer to Registering the "Taean Miracle" as a World Heritage Record

Photo of Taean beach during the 2007 oil spill incident (left) and the current view of Taean beach over 10 years later with the oil slick gone. Source=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The registration of records documenting the Taean oil spill disaster recovery process as a UNESCO Memory of the World heritage has come one step closer.

According to Chungnam Province on the 8th, the "Taean Oil Spill Damage Recovery Records" (hereafter referred to as the records) were recently selected as candidates for inscription on the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register, alongside Samguk Yusa and Naebanggasa.

Following the selection results, the province plans to submit the application for inscription on the Asia-Pacific regional register in June, in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Administration and the UNESCO Korean National Commission. The decision on inscription will be made after the application review in the second half of the year and the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Committee General Assembly at the end of the year.

The Taean oil spill accident occurred on December 7, 2007, when the Samsung Heavy Industries crane vessel collided with the Hong Kong-registered oil tanker Hebei Spirit off Mallipo Beach in Taean County, Chungnam Province.

At the time, 12,547 kiloliters (approximately 10,900 tons) of crude oil stored in the tanker’s tanks spilled, causing direct damage to six cities and counties including Taean, 15 beaches, and 59 islands.

The records fully capture the occurrence of the oil spill accident, the response, and the recovery process. To date, the collected public and private records amount to over 200,000 items.

The types of records include photographs, paper documents, videos, oral histories, electronic documents, artifacts, and specimens of birds, fish, and benthic organisms. Moreover, the records detail the overall situation at the time, including the accident response process, containment activities, volunteer efforts, compensation and restitution procedures, restoration activities, environmental and social recovery, and international cooperation, adding significant meaning.

In particular, the fact that more than 1.23 million volunteers voluntarily came to the site to assist in the accident recovery is still called the "Miracle of Taean" even after 15 years, and is regarded as a legendary response case in large-scale oil spill disaster areas.

This is because it was an unprecedented global case where a massive number of volunteers united to help overcome oil spill damage.

Reflecting on this significance, the province has been promoting the inscription of the records as a UNESCO Memory of the World heritage since 2019. The following year, together with Chungnam National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, they held the "International Conference on Sharing the Taean Oil Spill Damage Recovery Process."

The conference was organized under the theme "The Importance of the Taean Oil Spill Damage Recovery Process," discussing strategies for inscription on the Memory of the World based on domestic and international cases and reviewing the significance of the oil spill recovery process.

Most notably, Roslyn Russell, former chairperson of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee, attended the event and delivered a keynote speech on "Inscription of Disaster Records on the Memory of the World," lending support to the promotion of the records’ inscription.

As a result of these efforts, if the records are officially inscribed as a Memory of the World heritage, they will become the first historical records based in Chungnam. As of this month, domestic records registered as Memory of the World include 16 on the International Register and 3 on the Asia-Pacific Regional Register, with none based in Chungnam.

Yang Seung-jo, Governor of Chungnam Province, said, "Despite pessimistic forecasts from global environmental experts, we achieved the 'Miracle of Taean' through the hands and sweat of 1.23 million people," adding, "This is an epic created by our capability to turn crisis into opportunity rather than seeing it as a crisis."

He continued, "The province aims to preserve the Taean oil spill recovery process as a world historical record to present and conserve a beacon of hope," and stated, "After inscription on the Asia-Pacific Regional Register, we plan to pursue inscription on the International Register consecutively."