Nuclear Power Plants Stained with Discrimination and Corruption

It has been six months since a farmer in his seventies from Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province burned himself to death. This incident was mentioned only briefly in the mainstream press, but to the farmers at the foot of a mountain in Miryang, it is unforgettable.

This old man was their brother, and for the first time in his life he stood up to the government because of an extra-high-voltage transmission tower, which was designed to stand in the rice paddy that he had tilled all his life.

The government offered 60 million won as compensation for constructing the transmission tower on a land whose market value exceeds 400 million won. Naturally he could not accept the offer.

However, ridicule, insult and thorough ignorance were all that came back to him. The farmer, who could not bear the insults from the young laborers, said, "This problem will only be resolved when I die," and spraying himself with gasoline, he set himself on fire.

His mother, more than ninety-years old, his younger brother, and his neighbors had to look on.

Only then did a Vice Minister of Knowledge Economy visit Miryang. Construction was suspended, but only for the time being.

Currently, the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) is sending workers back to the site trying to push ahead with construction. They also filed an injunction and a lawsuit for damages against the village residents, who opposed construction.

The villagers received a petition requesting 1 billion won to compensate the damage caused by their resistance to the construction of a transmission tower, which will allow high-voltage transmission lines to run through their village.

They also received an application for injunction stating that they could be forced to pay 1 million won per day if they impede construction.

KEPCO went so far as to send a letter of notification to the younger brother of the deceased farmer. The notification stated that they would use as they will the land that his brother had tried to keep with his life. Under these circumstances, the brother has announced that if KEPCO pushes ahead with the construction, he would block it with his own body even if he has to carry his elderly mother on his back.

This is a tragic situation brought on by the development of nuclear power. A similar situation is occurring in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province. One day, the route of the transmission towers was changed so that the route would pass through a village. Understandably, the villagers could not accept this change. So, everyday elderly women are confronting young laborers.

At the end of the transmission towers stand the nuclear power plants. The transmission towers are necessary to transmit the electricity produced in these plants. One has to wonder who is enjoying the profit from building nuclear power plants and transmission towers.

The answer to this question becomes clear when we follow the money to see where it leads.

When we look at the list of construction companies that are currently building nuclear power plants, we see some familiar names: Samsung, Hyundai, Daelim, SK, Daewoo, GS, Doosan.

In the end, it is the conglomerates that primarily enjoy the profits from building nuclear power plants. Considering that it takes more than 3 trillion won to build a single unit of a nuclear power plant, this is a business with huge profits.

Who constructed the transmission tower in Miryang? The construction of a single transmission tower requires 3.5 billion won. Out of curiosity, I did some research and came up with the name, Samsung. Of course the conglomerates do not handle the construction work directly.

They hire a subcontractor for the job. Eventually, the conglomerates are making easy money, just by sitting in their chair and raking in the profits. The contrast between the sighs that come from the farmers who lost their land and the profits enjoyed by the conglomerates is quite striking.

Furthermore, Korea's nuclear power is stained with all kinds of corruption. On July 10, the Ulsan District Prosecutor's Office announced the results of their investigation into the structural corruption in Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company, Ltd.

They exposed various forms of corruption including bribes, rigged bids, and lobbying through brokers, etc. Corruption itself is a problem, but what raises our concern even more is that poor parts were delivered due to these corrupt practices.

In one case, fake parts--illegal imitations of those originally manufactured by foreign companies--were delivered. In another case, they used a general heat insulating material where they should have used a special heat insulating material. Nuclear power contaminated with corruption is threatening the lives and safety of our citizens.

As in these cases, nuclear power is covered with corruption, discrimination, and favors. We fail to treat rural farmers as people just so people living in large cities can use electricity.

On one hand, there are people who enjoy wrongful profits through corrupt means, and on the other, there are the workers hired by subcontractors, temporary workers who handle the dangerous tasks in these power plants. The people have to shoulder the risks of nuclear power, while the conglomerates earn their money.

For the upcoming presidential election, many candidates are speaking of justice. However, nuclear power cannot coexist with values like justice. Justice has no place here unless we shatter the structure of favors, corruption and discrimination surrounding nuclear power.