Seoul Officials Respond to Subway Asbestos Concerns

February 1, 2007 - An article in The Hankyoreh, a Korean newspaper, indicates that Seoul Metro officials are responding to reports about unsafe conditions in the subway system by announcing that it will remove all asbestos-containing materials in its subway stations.

However, experts indicate that it is “almost impossible” for South Korean officials to safely remove all asbestos materials in subway stations due to a lack of specialists trained to do so. To further complicate matters, no official license exists in South Korea which certifies that a company is properly trained to remove asbestos materials.

Though the Ministry of Labor passed regulations in 2003 concerning asbestos-removal licensing, no follow-up measures are in place. Currently, the article points out, only companies with an ordinary license for removing construction materials are doing such jobs.

Seok Mi-hi, chief executive officer of ETS Consulting, which owns equipment to analyze asbestos and remove the materials, said, "No South Korean company exists right now to remove asbestos on the walls and ceilings of a subway station with the guarantee of safety."  Seok believes foreign companies with such expertise should help Seoul Metro with the task.

Also, adds Choi Sang-jun, a researcher at the Wonjin Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health, "There are only three to five institutions in South Korea that can appropriately assess the content of asbestos," creating yet more concern about the impending project.