Management and Remediation Policy of Contaminated Lands in Korea II
Attempts were made to present better soil management and remediation policies of the contaminated soils in Korea. Compared to those policies of the developed European countries, problems encountered in the process of enacting the Soil Environment Conservation Act (SECA) in Korea appeared to have no detailed guidance on determination of responsible parties and liability for the soil contamination, no clear legislative authority to deal with the contaminated soil, and a lack of legislative systems for local communities to participate in the determination process of the contaminated soil.
Soil management and remediation policies of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark were chosen resulting from a feasible analysis of 18 countries in the European Union. Of these four countries, social characteristics, a policy background of soil contamination policy, soil contamination situation, laws and legislation, responsible authorities for remediation of the contaminated soils, soil quality criteria, risk assessment and management of contaminated sites, reuse policy of contaminated soil, role of local community, liability and funding mechanisms were identified and compared with those of the U. S. studied last year.
Policy direction and subsequent strategies regarding the soil contamination problems of Korea could be proposed as follows. Policy directions include i) comprehensive management and cleanup of contaminated soils and groundwater simultaneously, ii) raising the consideration of