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| Rep. Hong Young-pyo, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, speaks during a policy coordination meeting at the National Assembly, Thursday. Seen on the right is Cho Jeong-sik, a chief policymaker of the ruling party. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) floor leader Rep. Hong Young-pyo called for a thorough investigation into the geothermal plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday, one day after the government announced it triggered an earthquake there in 2017.
"The project to build the geothermal power plant started at the end of 2010, under the Lee Myung-bak administration," Hong said.
"We assume that the project proceeded without specific plans, resulting in the earthquake that caused about 1,300 to become homeless, about 300 billion won ($266 million) of property damage and even the postponement of the national college entrance test."
The 2017 exam was delayed for the first time ever after the 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck Pohang, Nov. 15, 2017.
Hong urged the government to investigate the approval procedures for the project thoroughly and to provide compensation to the victims of the tremor.
He said an investigation was needed into all parties involved in initiating the project, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and companies such as Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, and POSCO.
Cho Jeong-sik, chief policymaker of the DPK, said the disaster in Pohang was caused by the incompetence of and poor management by the past conservative government, and had nothing to do with the current administration's nuclear-free energy policy.
Some civic groups staged a protest during a press conference Wednesday by a research team led by the Geological Society of Korea, asking the government to take responsibility for the disaster and compensate the affected people for their suffering.
But other environmental groups said they are still skeptical about the government announcement that the geothermal power plant project triggered the earthquake.
"The government said the geothermal project had not induced but triggered the earthquake, slightly reducing the effects of the project, but it still means that the strata in the region were already vulnerable to earthquakes." said Yang-Yi Won-young, executive director of the Energy Department at the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, calling for further investigation on the stability of the strata.
"The total amount of water injected at the plant into two holes there on four occasions was 12,000 cubic meters which was too little to trigger seismicity," she added.
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