South Korea - The Korea Times

LG Chem to build hydrothermal plastic recycling plant in Dangjin

gettyimagesbankLG Chem said Tuesday it is building its first plastic recycling plant in South Korea that will process used plastics using high-temperature steam, accelerating its push for clean materials.The plant, to be built in the southwest city of Dangjin by the first quarter of 2024, will have an annual capacity of 20,000 tons, and produce oil from plastic waste using a process known as supercritical pyrolysis, the company said in a press release. Supercritical pyrolysis is a technology that decomposes used plastic with steam at high temperature and pressure beyond a critical point and converts them into fossil-fuel replacement oils and chemicals that can be processed into new plastics.LG Chem will work with U.K.-based Mura Technology, which it has invested in for its proprietary pyrolysis technology, for the new Dangjin plant. More than 80 percent of the plastic waste from the new plant will be converted into renewable oils that can replace fossil fuels, with the remaining 20 percent of by-product gases expected to be reused as an energy source for operating relevant facilities

Jan 18, 2022

LG Chem to build hydrothermal plastic recycling plant in Dangjin

Police looking into report of animal abuse case using sausage-skewered fishhooks

This combination of photos captured from social media shows a batch of fishhooks skewered with mini sausages discovered at a park popular among dog owners in Incheon. YonhapPolice said Monday they were looking into a report of a suspected animal abuse attempt using sausage-skewered fishhooks at a park in Incheon popular among dog owners.Police said they received the report of the suspicious fishhooks in the park in the Bupyeong District of Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, at 9:45 p.m. Sunday. The authorities said they searched the park but failed to discover the hooks in question. The fishhooks were first made public by a dog owner who discovered them at the park and posted a photo on Instagram, Sunday."I found sausages lying around among leaves on the ground and dug into the ground thinking something was strange," the person wrote. The user described the sausages as being fixed to fishhooks and the connected fishing lines tied to a nearby tree.The person explained the park was popular among dog owners and insisted the placement of the fishhooks was apparently "not by mistake bu

Jan 17, 2022

Police looking into report of animal abuse case using sausage-skewered fishhooks

Korea confirms another highly pathogenic bird flu case

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea reported another highly pathogenic avian influenza case at a duck farm in a southwestern region, SundayThe farm is raising about 33,000 ducks in Yeongam, 384 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the agriculture and livestock ministry.It marked the 21st case of highly pathogenic avian influenza found at poultry farms this winter. The government has alerted local poultry farm owners to recently increasing outbreaks of avian influenza, urging them to keep an eye on their farms and immediately report any suspected symptoms.Highly pathogenic avian influenza is very contagious among birds and can cause severe illness and even death, especially among poultry. (Yonhap)

Jan 16, 2022

Korea confirms another highly pathogenic bird flu case

Wild animal cafes to be banned

Visitors to a wild animal cafe in Seoul play with raccoons in this Jan. 29, 2018, photo. Courtesy of AWAREBy Bahk Eun-jiThe government will ban operation of wild animal cafes where people can see and touch the animals, in a bid to better protect the animals, according to the Ministry of Environment, Friday.The measure follows criticism that animals at wild animal cafes are stressed from exposure to customers as well as poorly managed hygiene standards.“There are 159 such cafes nationwide where raccoons, meerkats, prairie dogs as well as various amphibians and reptiles are on display,” a ministry official said. “Exhibiting such wild animals in indoor settings, besides zoos, is undesirable from an ecological point of view and for their welfare, so we are planning to move them to more adequate facilities.”When the relevant revision bill is passed at the National Assembly, wild animal cafes will have to close ― after a grace period of three to four years. The animals from the facilities will be moved to the National Institute of Ecology in Seocheon County, South C

Jan 15, 2022By Bahk Eun-ji

New guidebook released to control illegal tortoise trade

African spurred tortoise / GettyimagesbankBy Ko Dong-hwanSome 303,000 endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles were illegally traded worldwide between 2000 and 2015, putting the already dwindling number of these reptiles under further threat of extinction. In 2022 the situation hasn't improved much, witnessed by the ongoing trade of various products made of the animals.To protect these creatures, the Korean government has joined a global movement by publishing a translated version of a new guidebook that instructs people about how to identify endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles that might have been used in in the manufacture of certain products.The National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), under the Ministry of Environment, on Jan. 13 started distributing to customs services and related governmental bureaus nationwide the “Identification Guide to Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles: Parts, Products and Derivatives in Trade.” It was originally published in 2021 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),

Jan 13, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan

New guidebook released to control illegal tortoise trade

South Jeolla Province mudflats to become Korea's next tourism hot spot

Mudflats in Sinan County in South Jeolla Province / Courtesy of Cultural Heritage AdministrationBy Ko Dong-hwanMudflats in coastal regions of South Jeolla Province have been promoted as the latest must visit destination in a bid to boost Korean tourism, the provincial government said, Jan. 11.The attraction spots are located in the country's southwestern Sinan County as well as Boseong County and the adjacent city of Suncheon. Spread over a 1,160 square kilometer area, the mudflats in the two locations form a coastal area with diverse sedimentary systems. Shinan County mudflat, the largest in the country, has particular environmental significance in that it has diverse types of mudflat subtypes, from estuarine to open embayed, archipelago and semi-enclosed. Its sedimentary system also goes as deep as 40 meters ― believed to be the deepest in the world, according to reports.The South Jeolla mudflats were selected in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage List in July 2021, together with other mudflats in Seocheon County in South Chungcheo

Jan 12, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan

South Jeolla Province mudflats to become Korea's next tourism hot spot

Forest healing program improves overall mental health: gov't

A medical worker at a COVID-19 testing center near Gangnam Station in Seoul takes a break under a Christmas tree on Dec. 24, 2021. Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwanThe forest healing program run by Korea Forest Service is becoming increasingly recognized for supporting people suffering from the psychological stresses of living amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as it has shown positive effects in improving participants' overall mental health over the past two years.Korea Forest Service, which organizes the program with the Korea Forest Welfare Institute and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said Jan. 10 that the program has helped public health workers responsible for testing people for COVID-19 or treating COVID-19 patients by improving their mental health. The health workers have been able to spend a day or one to two nights in one of the designated national forest parks, relieving their accumulated psychological stress by temporarily living off-the-grid. The program was first launched out of concerns that as the coronavirus was continuing indefinitely, a growing number of medical workers starte

Jan 11, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan

Forest healing program improves overall mental health: gov't

Single-person households reduce waste better: study

Food delivery in Korea often comes with a significant amount of single-use plastic and paper waste. Korea Times fileBy Ko Dong-hwanSingle-person households reduced their production of waste better than households with two or more members, a months-long demonstration project by the Seoul city government proved.The local administration launched its Waste Diet Project last year and enrolled 164 volunteer households. Among them, 38 were single-person, 18 were two-person, 36 were three-person and 72 were four-person households. From September to November, they recorded how much and which types of waste they accumulated and threw away. At the end of the project, Seoul City compared the amount of waste thrown away to see how much less waste was produced with the suggested lifestyle changes.The project revealed each single-person household cut down their waste generated by an average of 5.86 kilograms. A two-person household reduced it by 4.85 kilograms; three people, 3.89 kilograms; and four people, 2.76 kilograms.Single-person households also reduced the largest amount of waste produced da

Jan 11, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan

Single-person households reduce waste better: study

Cold weather grips Korea

People go to work wearing padded jackets as cold weather grips Seoul, Jan. 11. Yonhap A cold wave hit South Korea, Tuesday, with temperatures in Seoul dropping to minus 9.3 degrees Celsius as of 8 a.m. and expected to remain below zero in the afternoon as well, according to the state weather agency.The apparent temperature for Seoul was minus 15.6 C, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.Cold wave alerts were issued for the northern part of Gyeonggi Province and some parts of the eastern Gangwon Province, as the morning lows dropped below minus 10 C. The mercury dived to minus 17.9 C on Mount Seorak in Gangwon, with the apparent temperature recorded at minus 26.4 C. Temperatures in the western port city of Incheon, the central city of Daejeon, the southwestern city of Gwangju and the southeastern port city of Busan were minus 9 C, minus 5.4 C, minus 1.5 C and 2.9 C, respectively, in the morning.Subzero temperatures are expected to continue into the afte

Jan 11, 2022

Man reported to police for allegedly abusing dog in public

A man pulls his dog on a leash up and down in Eunpyeong District, north western Seoul, in this screenshot from a video uploaded by the local animal rights activist group, Care, on Facebook. / Screenshot from Care's Facebook pageBy Lee Hae-rinAn animal rights group reported a man to the police, Monday, for violating the Animal Protection Act. He allegedly yanked aggressively on his dog's leash, lifting the animal off the ground.The report came a day after the group, Care, uploaded a video of the man on its Facebook and Instagram accounts, asking for internet users' help in finding the alleged animal abuser from Eunpyeong District. In the video clip, the man repeatedly lifts the dog off the ground by the leash as if he were playing with a yo-yo, and then beats the dog with his hand. This video went viral and enraged many internet users.Activists from the organization found the dog owner, 82, on Monday morning. “The man did not understand that what he did was animal abuse and told us he treated the dog in such manner because he was 'angry,'” Kim Young-hwan, the head of the a

Jan 11, 2022By Lee Hae-rin

Environment & Animals