On last September 6, a serious accident occurred in the “Im-jin” river. Six private citizens, who were enjoying camping, died because North Korea discharged  4000t of water without notice, causing the water level to rise. How did this tragic accident happen?
North Korea damaged residences near the Im-jin river several times while in the middle of or after they completed construction of dams. In this accident, the loss of lives happened because of a discharge of water without notice, but North Korea didn’t apologize sincerely. According to experts’ opinions, although they were faced with a situation where the water level in Hwang-gang dam in North Korea suddenly rose, they should have discharged only after a preliminary announcement.
However, this accident didn’t arise through only North Korea’s fault. At that time, there were several security systems that should have warned about discharges at Hwang-gang dam. Nevertheless, careless management caused the problem, One reason was that the person who was in charge of supervising the dam by CCTV didn’t play his role perfectly. Another reason was that a guard reported that the water was rising, but the person in charge grasped the situation only after 5 hours. This disaster could have been avoided.
The loss of lives of six men happened due to this accident, but both North and South Korea’s attitudes are to be idle. North Korea has to notify about discharges of the Hwang-gang dam. Also, North Korea has to apologize to people who were damaged by discharges without proper notice. Moreover, our government has to establish more organized security systems and apologize to citizens publicly.
We have to show strong resolve. Also, we have to listen to the reasons for discharges clearly and receive an apology. Moreover, we should prepare measures to prevent recurrences of accidents like this.