Yeonsu-gu, Incheon is proceeding with police charges against Booyoung Housing for continuously failing to carry out soil contamination cleanup measures at the planned site of the Songdo Amusement Park theme park.
According to the district on the 8th, Booyoung Housing has not submitted a cleanup plan for six contamination items (TPH, benzene, lead, arsenic, zinc, fluoride) found in the area around 911 Dongchun-dong, nor has it carried out construction work by the cleanup deadline of the 6th.
This is the third time Booyoung Housing has failed to comply with the district’s cleanup orders. The district plans to file charges against Booyoung Housing for violating the Soil Environment Conservation Act and issue a fourth cleanup order.
The Environmental Policy Advisory Group of Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, held a press conference in November last year urging Booyoung Housing to clean up the contaminated soil at the planned site of the Songdo Amusement Park. Provided by Yeonsu-gu, Incheon
Booyoung Housing also failed to comply with cleanup orders issued by the district in December 2018 and January 2021. The corporation and its CEO were fined 10 million won each in the first trial for violating the first cleanup order, and the guilty verdict was upheld in the Supreme Court’s recent appeal, confirming the original judgment.
Booyoung Housing was again reported to the police and sent to the prosecution for violating the second cleanup order in 2023. However, the investigation was suspended after the prosecution issued a "suspension of prosecution" due to an ongoing appeal related to the first order.
Previously, the company purchased 926,000 square meters of land near the former Songdo Amusement Park for 315 billion won in 2015 and planned to develop a theme park and apartment complex. However, the project stalled around 2017 when a large amount of waste was discovered on the site. According to a soil survey report released in 2021, petroleum total hydrocarbons (TPH) and lead exceeding the standard levels were detected in 386,449 square meters of the planned theme park site.
Aerial view of Songdo Amusement Park. Provided by Booyoung Group
However, Booyoung Housing explained to Yeonsu-gu that "time was needed to relocate the endangered wild species, the Mongolian toad (a level 2 endangered wild animal), inhabiting the contaminated soil site to an alternative habitat," and that "design services for the cleanup work are currently underway, and a cleanup plan will be established once the results are available."
Booyoung Housing also requested an extension of the cleanup deadline based on the revision of the Soil Environment Conservation Act Enforcement Rules, which relaxed fluoride standards at the end of December last year, just before the deadline for the third cleanup order. However, the district did not accept this request.
A Yeonsu-gu official stated, "Booyoung Housing has continuously failed to comply with soil contamination cleanup orders since 2018," adding, "We will complete the filing of charges by the 10th and issue the fourth cleanup order."
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