Court dismisses Han River Basin Environment Office suit, orders plaintiff to bear legal costs
Hanam said Monday it had won a first-instance court ruling in an administrative lawsuit against the Han River Basin Environment Office over responsibility for cleaning up contaminated soil on a former riverbed site in Misa-dong.
The Suwon District Court dismissed the suit filed by the Han River Basin Environment Office against Hanam on Wednesday, ruling the plaintiff's claim inadmissible and ordering the plaintiff to bear all legal costs.
Hanam said it expects the ruling to serve as a pivotal turning point in resolving an eight-year dispute over cleanup responsibility, as the court's decision effectively recognizes the state's obligation to remediate land it owns.
The lawsuit centered on who should clean up contaminated soil left on a former Han River riverbed site in the Misa-dong 643 area, and who should bear the cost.
A former riverbed site refers to land excluded from an existing river zone due to river improvement works or changes in the watercourse. The site in question is state-owned land that had been used as an aggregate storage yard — storing sand, gravel and similar materials — since 1998.
After the company operating the yard went out of business, the site was left unattended for an extended period, prompting concerns among nearby residents about environmental contamination.
A detailed soil survey conducted by Hanam in 2018 detected fluoride levels exceeding the legal standard at the time, confirming that soil remediation was necessary.
The central dispute arose when the aggregate yard operator shut down, leaving unresolved the question of who would clean up the contaminated soil and bear the associated costs — a disagreement that emerged between the central government and Hanam.
The Soil Environment Conservation Act allows cleanup responsibility to be imposed not only on those who directly caused the contamination but also on owners of contaminated land meeting certain conditions.
On that basis, Hanam issued a cleanup order in December 2018 to the Seoul Regional Land Management Office, which was then managing the state-owned land, on the grounds that the state, as the landowner, bore responsibility for remediation.
The central government, however, contested the order, arguing that Hanam also bore cleanup responsibility given its role in licensing and overseeing the aggregate yard's operations.
In 2022, management of national rivers was transferred from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the Ministry of Environment. The Han River Basin Environment Office, which took over management of the site, filed an administrative lawsuit in May of that year seeking to have Hanam's cleanup order declared void.
Hanam said the ruling had created an important opportunity to pursue soil remediation based on the state's responsibility.
"We hope this ruling will help resolve the eight-year dispute over cleanup responsibility for soil contamination at the Han River former riverbed site," said Kang Jong-bo, head of Hanam's environmental policy division. "We will do our utmost to ensure the contaminated soil is safely remediated as soon as possible and that the site is transformed into a space residents can use with confidence."
pjh@heraldcorp.com
