Muan-gun, Controversy Over 'No Charges' Decision on Illegal Landfill Farmland

Criticism of Muan Police's Negligent Investigation and Favoritism

Advance Notice of Restoration... Plan to Promote Restoration Order

[Asia Economy] Criticism is pouring in that the Muan Police Station conducted a careless investigation after a decision of no charges was made regarding allegations of illegal landfilling on farmland in Unnam-myeon, Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, drawing attention from the local community.

Muan Police Station exterior view
[Photo by Muan Police Station]

According to Muan-gun on the 3rd, an investigation was conducted following a report that farmland located in Unnam-myeon in 2020 was illegally filled and waste was buried without obtaining development permission for speculative purposes.

At that time, the Muan Police Station decided on a "non-prosecution due to insufficient evidence to acknowledge the facts of the accusation" based on the investigation results.

Despite the presence of clear on-site evidence and witnesses including residents and public officials, there are suspicions that the non-prosecution decision was made and the investigation was closed without an on-site inspection.

In particular, Muan-gun initiated an on-site investigation of the illegal farmland filling case, excavating an average depth of 3 meters to find the buried waste, confirming unusable fertilizer that had hardened, construction waste, and vinyl, with the estimated waste amount exceeding 7.5 tons.

After the investigation, farmland owner Mr. A claimed that most of the waste was moved to his home and was legally disposed of based on simple receipts.

An official from the Environment Division of Muan-gun said, "In 2021, we requested an investigation by the Muan Police Station on the farmland owner, the dump truck driver who transported the waste, and the excavator operator who buried it," adding, "The police could not locate the excavator operator, concluded the investigation, and sent the case to the prosecution, but due to lack of evidence, a supplementary investigation was requested."

He added, "The Muan police notified us to impose a fine of less than 1 million KRW on the landowner, and we plan to impose the fine on Mr. A."

A representative from the Agricultural Policy Planning Team of Muan-gun stated, "Although we reported the illegal filling without development permission to the Muan police, about half of the approximately 3,300 square meters (about 1,000 pyeong) of land was filled, making it difficult to determine illegality," and explained, "The non-prosecution decision was made due to insufficient evidence."

A representative from the Regional Development and Urban Planning Team said, "We have currently issued a prior notice for restoration," and added, "If the actor does not provide an opinion or if it is deemed invalid, we plan to proceed with an order for restoration."

Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Oh Hwan-ju ohj1358@asiae.co.kr