Gumi gas leak incident

The Gumi gas leak incident (龜尾-漏出事故) was an accident that occurred on 27 September 2012, when hydrogen fluoride gas leaked from Hyub Global, a chemical product manufacturer located in the Gumi 4th National Industrial Complex in Bongsan-ri, Sandong-myeon, Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. It caused 23 casualties and inflicted enormous damage on residents and on plants and animals in the area around the factory.

Overview

On the night of 27 September 2012, while hydrogen fluoride gas (commonly known as hydrofluoric acid gas) loaded on a tank lorry was being injected into equipment inside the factory of Hyub Global Co., Ltd., a fluorine chemical product manufacturer located in the Gumi 4th National Industrial Complex in Bongsan-ri, Sandong-myeon, Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, a valve on the tank lorry was opened by a worker's mistake, causing gas to leak. Five factory workers died and 18 were injured.¹

In addition, because prompt measures were not taken after the hydrogen fluoride gas leak, the gas spread to areas near the industrial complex, killing crops and causing livestock to show symptoms of gas poisoning, and damage occurred continuously.²

Controversy and suspicions

The site of the Hyub Global factory had originally been sold in 2005 to a semiconductor equipment manufacturer, but that company left it unused for three years before suddenly establishing a factory and completing registration. Twelve days after registration was completed, on 27 May 2008, the site was sold to Hyub Global, and suspicions were raised that this was a loophole used to avoid the restrictions on the sale of industrial land prescribed in Article 39 of the Act on the Activation of Industrial Agglomeration and Establishment of Factories.³

Footnotes

Footnotes