Reported Illegal Trash Dumping by Hiking Club... Anger Over District Office's Response

"Don't Know What Kind of Trash It Is, Difficult to Pay Fine" Response

Amid criticism over a hiking club's illegal dumping of trash, the local district office's response has also come under scrutiny.

An image captured an incident where a hiking club illegally dumped trash on the roadside in front of a shopping center. [Image source=JTBC 'Sageonbanjang' capture]

On the 8th, JTBC's 'Incident Commander' aired a video showing members of a hiking club illegally dumping trash in front of a commercial building in Buk-gu, Gwangju, on the 18th of last month. The video shows a tourist bus stopping by the main road next to the building, and the hiking club members disembarking and unloading luggage from the bus.

However, while the members gathered their belongings, some items that appeared to be trash, such as Styrofoam boxes, were left on the roadside and abandoned. Host Yang Won-bo remarked, "Seeing trash dumped like that on the road reasonably raises suspicion that even more trash is being left in the mountains."

Additionally, A, the building manager who reported the incident, claimed that the Styrofoam boxes left behind contained food waste. He personally cleaned up the area and reported the hiking club to the district office. However, the district office reportedly responded, "It is difficult to impose a fine because no photos were taken of what kind of trash was inside the boxes."

An image captured an incident where a hiking club illegally dumped trash on the roadside in front of a shopping center. [Image source=JTBC 'Case Officer' capture]

Netizens who saw this expressed outrage with comments such as, "If you want your hobby to be respected, you shouldn't harm others," "Dumping trash on the road is not even an issue for them. When you go up the mountain, noise pollution and entering restricted areas to eat lunch and drink, then leaving everything behind is common," "I can't understand how not a single person among so many stopped them," "I don't understand why imposing fines is difficult," "The district office's response makes me even angrier," and "It sounds like they're telling us not to report such things."