Ministry and local governments play blame game after tragedy

The Environment Ministry and local governments are blaming each other for causing the recent flooding of an underpass in North Chungcheong that killed at least 14 people.

Water from the Miho River in Osong-eup, Cheongju in North Chuncheong flows into a nearby underpass as heavy rain pounded the area last Saturday. At least 14 people were killed as of Monday after being trapped in the flooded underpass. [YONHAP]

The Environment Ministry and local governments are blaming each other for causing the recent flooding of an underpass in North Chungcheong that killed at least 14 people.

The flood occurred after a temporary sand levee broke on the nearby Miho River as the river overflowed from the heavy rain that pounded the area last Saturday.

The Miho River is managed by the national government, ideally by the Environment Ministry.

However, the Environment Ministry usually takes care of only certain parts of the country’s streams and rivers, including the main streams of Korea’s five major rivers, passing responsibility for the rest to local governments.

In the case of Miho River, the ministry passed the authority onto the provincial office of North Chungcheong, and then to the city office of Cheongju.

Who to blame for constructing the temporary levee is another issue.

The collapsed levees were constructed by the National Agency for Administrative City Construction under the Land Ministry as it was building a bridge nearby.

But it was the Geum River Basin Environmental Office under the Environment Ministry that approved the construction itself.

When the former Moon Jae-in government pushed its "Water Management Integration" project to consolidate water resource management agencies under the Environment Ministry, critics feared the ministry would be unable to handle the responsibility.

Previously, the Land Ministry and the Environment Ministry shared authority in the management of water resources.

At the time, the People Power Party (PPP) argued against concentrating authority in the Environment Ministry, stating that it could exacerbate flood damage.

"Among the 35 OECD countries, only eight European countries have their environment ministries responsible for integrated water management throughout the year,” said Ji Sang-wook, the former director of PPP thinktank Yeouido Research in May 2018.

He added that all those countries have stable annual rainfall.

Pointing out that 70 percent of Korea's annual rainfall is concentrated in heavy rains in August and September, Ji asked how the Environment Ministry could handle a flood on its own.

Nevertheless, the Democratic Party (DP) pushed another bill to integrate authority over rivers into the Environment Ministry.

In December 2020, a revised bill was introduced to transfer river restoration authority to the ministry.

PPP Rep. Song Seog-jun argued, “Rivers are like the lifeblood of the nation, and thus, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, which oversees national land management, should continue to manage them."

The bill was passed with a majority of votes from the DP.

The Environment Ministry has historically focused on environmental protection and resource management, not on handling water levels to prevent disasters like flooding.

Han Moo-young, an honorary professor at Seoul National University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, questioned “the appropriateness of handing over flood control responsibilities to the Environment Ministry, which has been primarily focusing on environmental regulations.”

In response, the Environment Ministry established the Water Management Policy Office in June 2021, recruiting officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.

BY KIM HYO-SEONG,KIM DA-YOUNG [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]