By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A great number of volunteers have gathered at shores in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, to clean up the nation's largest oil spill there.
And they were not only Koreans themselves but also foreigners who were impressed at the massive movement ― people from all around the country wearing protective gear, sitting on shores, washing contaminated rocks with absorbent cloth one by one.
It has been almost 20 days since 10,500 tons of oil was spilled from a tanker after a barge collided with it in seas off Taean, blackening 167 kilometers of the shorelines in the heavily indented western coast.
With almost all fish farms there contaminated with the slick, experts expected collecting oil, apart from the recovery of the ecosystem there, would take two to three months.
However, with up to 50,000 volunteers' giving a helping hand each day, the government said about 70 percent of the spilled oil was collected. Parents brought their children to teach them how to help others, and company workers went there instead of having their usual year-end drinking parties.
``It is very moving to see such a response from a European perspective, Koreans are not known for their generosity in giving charity or volunteering,'' said Michael Breen, president of Insight Communications Consultants.
He said some companies are also taking part in the volunteer work showing their corporate social responsibility, with their employees going down to Taean ― much more charitable than might have been expected of the Koreans.
Tamara Kowalska, a Canadian resident here, also said, ``It provides an example to show how it is possible to work together to make the world better, not motivated by money.''
Walailak Noypayak, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said Korean people showed their responsibility for the national resources and many will follow the example.
``It is human responsibility, not only Koreans,' as the sea belongs to the world. It was a crucial time, but the local people had power to make it,'' she said.
Foreign experts who visited Taean for research and oil collecting work also said they were astonished with the fast progress in removing oil.
The government is also discussing ways to boost the economy of the region, where its fishery and tourism resources were largely damaged. It plans to promote consumption of marine products caught in uncontaminated seas near Taean, as people avoid buying even clean products only because they are labeled ``from Taean.''