Illegal waste dump found in Jeju

[Anchor]

In Jeju, known for its clean environment, the largest illegal waste dumping incident in history has occurred, prompting police to launch an investigation.

When we dug into what appeared to be an ordinary field, waste estimated to be tens of thousands of tons was uncovered.

We tracked down how this incident happened and the details behind it.

This is On-Site K reporter Moon Jun-young.

[Report]

Surrounding the round hill, greenhouses and farmland are spread out.

Among them, a field surrounded by boundary stones catches the eye.

At first glance, it looks like an ordinary field, but together with the Jeju City and the autonomous police, we used an excavator to dig into the ground.

Gray debris and waste stones were revealed.

It is estimated that about 20,000 tons of waste have been buried in an area of 1,900 square meters.

We mobilized equipment to dig further in the area.

As you can see, it was revealed that waste was buried over 8 meters deep.

The field where the waste was buried is about 4,000 square meters in total, with tens of thousands of tons of waste piled up like a mountain.

This is the largest scale since the discovery of over 7,000 tons of illegal waste ten years ago in Jeju.

After much inquiry, we found the dump truck driver who buried the waste.

[Dump truck driver/voice altered: "The factory told me to put it there because they had a lot of material coming out, so I put it in with a 15-ton truck and a 25-ton truck."]

He admits to the illegal dumping but claims he was following orders.

We managed to get in touch with the contractor who instructed the driver to dump the waste.

This time, he revealed that it was something ordered by the factory, and that the landowner was aware of it.

[Illegal dumping contractor/voice altered: "I did it 100% as instructed by the factory. The landowner knew too. He said to make sure it doesn't get caught."]

After searching around the illegal dumping site for places where waste might come out, we discovered a stone processing factory.

Inside, there were piles of waste stones similar to those from the field, and debris was also noticeable.

A factory official refused to comment, stating that they are under police investigation.

[○○ Development official/voice altered: "(I'm curious if the dumping actually happened through OO.) I just spoke with my lawyer, and the lawyer said I shouldn't say anything and shouldn't respond to inquiries. (Are you denying the allegations?) That's the situation. I'm sorry."]

It is presumed that contractors colluded with landowners to bury the waste in the field, as processing industrial waste according to regulations incurs high costs.

The police believe that this illegal dumping has been occurring over several years and are investigating the scale and circumstances of the dumping with the factory officials.

This is on-Site K reporter Moon Jun-young.