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Sea of black at well-known S. Korean beach
Sun, Dec 09, 2007 The Straits Times
MALLIPO BEACH (SOUTH KOREA) - HUNDREDS of soldiers, police and residents used buckets to remove thick crude oil from one of South Korea's best-known beaches as waves of dark sea water crashed ashore yesterday. Mallipo, about 150km south-west of Seoul, is one of the beaches hit the hardest by an oil spill that occurred on Friday when a barge slammed into a supertanker, punching holes and causing it to release 66,000 barrels of oil into the Yellow Sea. The odour from the spill, one of the worst ecological disasters to hit South Korea, was present a kilometre away. 'I woke up to a dark brown beach. The sand is crusted with brown slicks of oil,' said Mr Guk Jung Ho, a village leader at Mallipo.

The oil reached shore yesterday morning, blackening and contaminating parts of a 17km-long coastline but had not yet hit the hundreds of oyster, abalone and other seafood farms in the area.

Measures have been taken to prevent that from happening, said Mr Song Myeong Dal, a Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry official, who noted that the main 20km-long slick was a day or so away from the marine farms and oyster beds.

South Korea is using oil skimmers, containment fences, 103 ships, five helicopters and hundreds of soldiers to contain the slick and minimise damages.

'Our life is totally dependent on this beach and tourists. Almost all the 140 families here are living off seafood farms and who knows what will happen to the farms?' said Mr Guk.

The region is also the site of a national maritime park and an important rest stop for migrating birds.

AFP, AP, Reuters