Korea's, first, major, air, pollution, lawsuit, conclude, soon

I'm a little surprised that I don't remember hearing about this case before despite it being in its third year, but it seems the outcome will soon be known.

The first "air pollution group lawsuit" in the country concludes on the 20th. In Japan a ten-year court process ended in a recommendation for auto companies to pay W9 billion, so attention focused on what our court system would do.

The lawsuit began in February 2007, leading to over three years of fierce litigation. Seven-year old Guk, who contracted asthma, and 22 others filed suit seeking W30 million each from the government, the city of Seoul, and auto companies including Hyundai, Kia, GM-Daewoo, Ssangyong, and Renault Samsung. The plaintiffs said, "the government permitted the emission of air pollution from vehicles, and the nationmust compensate for the injuries caused by the neglect of its legal obligation to prevent it." They also asserted that the auto companies had a responsibility to compensate them for injuries caused by illegal actions stemming from their negligence and fault.

The plaintiffs focused their court attack on the toll air pollution takes on the respiratory system. After demonstrating the amount of traffic in the roads and streets near their homes they argued, "because of the negligence and fault of the city and the auto companies air pollution was released into the streets, damaging our financial and mental health." They demanded that the city's particulate matter standards match up to World Health Organizations recommendations, and asked the court to order a halt to emissions.

The defense was just as spirited. The city argued in court that, "WHO standards are not particularly tough, and the city is exerting considerable effort to reduce particulate matter." The city emphasized that particulate matter had fallen from 61㎍/㎥ in 2007 to 54㎍/㎥ in 2009.

The auto companies argued that, "the volume of particulate matter that comes from our accelerators, brakes, and tires is just 30% of the total... Consideration must also be given to the other causes, such as the yellow dust from China." The companies emphasized, "it must be considered that unlike cigarettes, automobiles are useful for citizens' daily lives and have a large effect on business success... Moreover, there is no evidence of a direct relationship between air pollution and disease."

Because of this unprecedented lawsuit, academic battles also raged. Lee Jong-tae, professor of environmental health at Korea University and a witness in the case, said, "the connection between air pollution and asthma is generally accepted by academics, and the main cause in large cities such as Seoul is automobiles." On the side Kim Yun-shik, business professor at Hanyang University, argued, "we must also consider the effect of local air quality [on the causes of disease]," and Kim Shin-do, professor of environmental engineering at Seoul National University, said, "air pollution has a larger influence than other causes such as the yellow dust."

Kim Hyeok, policy head at the Green Korea Legal Center (녹색법률센터), said, "we expect that vigorous controversy will continue over the government's social responsibility regarding air pollution as a result of this lawsuit." Green Korea plans to file additional lawsuits after examining the outcome of the current case.