The Korean government today is awarding the volunteers who in less than three months cleaned up the coast along the province of Chungcheong, hit by one of the worst ecological disasters in the history of Korea at the beginning of December.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – Children, university students, civil servants, farmers: in total one million people who dedicated their free time in recent months , to cleaning up the coast of Taean, hit at the beginning of December by one of the worst ecological disasters in Korean history.  According to the Korean government this was one of the biggest scale volunteer efforts ever to have taken place in Asia: this is why, today these “cleaners” will be awarded there on the coasts that they helped free from petrol.

On December 7th last, the Hong Kong oil tanker Hebei Sprint, spilt over 15 thousand tonnes of crude oil into the sea after having hit a crane on a platform just off  Taean port, south of Seoul. Marine life was decimated,  with grave repercussions on the local economy: one fisherman committed suicide from desperation.  In order to rejuvenate the tourist industry, the clean-up  operations went ahead.

Many Catholic groups also participated in the efforts: first among them parishioners from the area of Seosan. The bishop of  Daejeon and president of the local Korean Caritas  msgr. Lazzaro You Heung-sik, gathered together the priests from throughout the diocese and some days before Christmas, went out himself to clean the rocks.

Lee Wan-koo, Chungcheong provincial governor says: “Today we are honouring an unprecedented miracle, a sense of national belonging that makes us very proud”. The volunteers will receive a commemorative plaque and a gift paid by sponsors.  A video of them at work will be aired on National television.

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