Emergency Aid to the Republic of Korea for Oil Spill Accident

December 14, 2007

Concerning the oil spill accident that took place on the west coast of the Republic of Korea in the morning of December 7, the Government of Japan has decided to dispatch an expert team of Japan Disaster Relief team (JDR) to give advice on oil removal and control and other help, and to extend emergency relief goods (oil-absorbents) equivalent to about 30 million yen.
At around 7:00 a.m. on December 7, Hebei Spirit, a Hong-Kong-registered tanker in harbor six nautical miles northwest of Shindo Island, Taean County in South Chungcheong Province of the ROK, collided with a crane - carrying barge being towed by a tugboat, spilling out estimated 10,500 kiloliters out of the 263,000 kiloliters of crude oil the tanker was carrying. Declaring a “state of disaster”, the Government of the ROK has mobilized all the disaster agencies to cope with the situation. Because of the gravity of the disaster, however, the Government of the ROK has requested emergency assistance from the Government of Japan.
The Government of Japan has decided to extend this emergency aid, from a humanitarian point of view for the disaster-afflicted people and taking account of its friendly relations with the ROK, Japan’s important neighbor, and with a view to preventing marine pollution in the sea waters adjacent to Japan.

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