• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.89-120
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• 2008

With petroleum being a major source of energy in Korea, the quantity of petroleum transported via ocean routes is on its way up due to increased consumption. Due to the increase, more than 300 cases of pollution caused by petroleum occur annually. Moreover, the number of oil-spill accidents is also on the rise. Causes of such accidents, not including the disposal of waste oil on purpose, turn out to be human error during navigation or defects in the vessels, showing that most accidents are caused by humans. Therefore, to prevent future oil spills, it is imperative that navigation efficiency be enhanced by improving the quality of navigators and replacing old vessels with newer ones. Nevertheless, such improvements cannot occur overnight, so long- and mid-term efforts should be made to achieve it institutionally. As large-scale oil-spill accidents can happen at anytime along the coastal waters of Korea, it is necessary to set-up institutional devices which go beyond the compensation limit of 92FC. The current special law regarding this issue has its limits in that it prescribes compensation be supplemented solely by national taxes. Therefore, the setting-up of a new 'national fund' is recommended for consideration rather than to subscribe to the '2003 Convention for the Supplementary Fund'. It is strongly suggested that a National fund be created from fees collected from oil companies based on the risks involved in oil transportation and according to the profiteers pay principle. In addition, a public fund should be created to handle general environmental damage, such as the large-scale destruction of the ecosystem, which is distinct from the economic damage that harms the local people. The posterior responses to the large-scale oil spill have always been unsatisfactory because of the symbolic nature of the disasters included in such accidents. Oil-spills can be prevented in advance, because they are caused by human beings. But once they occur, they inflict long-term damage to both human life and the natural ecosystem. Therefore, the best response to future oil-spills is to work to prevent them.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2013

In Korea, more than 300 oil spill accidents occur every year. Despite the frequency, only a small pool of data is available on the initial effect of oil spill on macrobenthic fauna inhabiting rocky shores. The aim of this study was to analyze the variation of macrobenthic fauna composition and community structure on rocky shores, and understand the impact of oil on rocky shore organisms after the Hebei Spirit oil spill. Field surveys were carried out in five regions dose to the wreck site in January, April and September 2008. Polluted sites after the Hebei Spirit oil spill showed that biological index consistently decreased for 9 months limited to breeding and recruitment of organisms by spilled oil. Macrobenthic community was subdivided into 3 groups by species elimination and differences between density of major dominant species: enriched biota community under a relatively stable environment, the second with relatively low ecological index and the last with poor community. In this study, species number did not clearly reflect the effect of oil on the rare and mobile species. However, mean density, biomass and community structure showed the effect of oil by considering breeding activity, decline in recruitment and variation pattern with time.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.345-354
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• 2008

Objectives : Our objective is to review and summarize the previous studies on the health effects of exposure to oil spills in order to make suggestions for mid- and long-term study plans regarding the health effects of the Hebei Spirit oil spill occured in Korea. Methods : We searched PubMed to systemically retrieve reports on the human health effects related to oil spill accidents. The papers' reference lists and reviews on the topic were searched as well. Results : We found 24 articles that examined seven oil spill accidents worldwide over the period from 1989 to August 2008, including the Exxon Valdes, Braer, Sea Empress, Erika, Nakhodka, Prestige and Tasman Spirit oil spills. Most of the studies applied cross-sectional and short-term follow-up study designs. The exposure level was measured by assessing the place of residence, using a questionnaire and environmental and personal monitoring. Studies on the acute or immediate health effects mainly focused on the subjective physical symptoms related to clean-up work or residential exposure. Late or mid-term follow-up studies were performed to investigate a range of health effects such as pulmonary function and endocrine, immunologic and genetic toxicity. The economic and social impact of the accidents resulted in the socio-psychological exposure and the psychosocial health effects. Conclusions : Studies of the health effects of exposure to oil spills should consider a range of health outcomes, including the physical and psychological effects, and the studies should be extended for a considerable period of time to study the long-term chronic health effects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.698-707
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• 2019

The removal of oil spilled by the sinking of a foreign ship in Korea's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) began in May 2019 four years after the ship sunk near Jeju Island. The cleanup was conducted by a foreign company that was contracted to the ship-owner's protection & indemnity (P&I) insurance company. In contrast to the time taken to begin the cleanup, the operation itself was completed in just 22days. Compared to similar cases, the decision to begin the removal was a delayed one. This study analyzes all 93 documents related to the ship's sinking and the eventual cleanup, confirming delays in administrative decision-making on the removal, and identifies factors that influenced this delay. These factors include a neglect of accident-related data verification, and other, legal, technical, environmental, and human aspects. Finally, this study suggests ways to improve decision-making efficiency. As the first study dealing with the cleanup in the EEZ, this research is expected to facilitate decision-making and influence the formulation of policies in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2023.11a
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• pp.64-65
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to assess the current status of cyber security at the Busan Port container terminal and derive strengthening factors through exploratory research. In recent years, the maritime industry has actively adopted Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, resulting in changes in the form of ports, such as automated and smart terminals. While these changes have brought positive improvements in port efficiency, they have also increased the potential for cyber security incidents and threats, including information leakage through cargo handling equipment and ransomware attacks leading to terminal operations disruption. Especially in the case of ports, cyber security threats can have not only local effects within the port but also physical damage and implications for national security. However, despite the growing cyber security threats within ports, research related to domestic port cyber security remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors for enhancing cyber security in ports and derive future enhancement strategies. The study conducted an analysis focusing on the Busan Port container terminal, which is one of the leading ports in South Korea actively adopting Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, and conducted a survey of stakeholders in the Busan Port container terminal. Subsequently, exploratory factor analysis was used to derive strengthening factors. This study holds significance in providing directions for enhancing cyber security in domestic container ports in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 2010

IMO(International Maritime Organization) and the Shipping World rave complied with various kinds of international regulations for maritime safety and marine environmental protection, but the main reason of maritime accidents is that developing countries cannot implement maritime safety related regulations. Although Korea has been a member of the "A group" council of IMO, maritime technology transfer records of Korea are not good. To promote the project of official development assistance in Korea, it is required to select the technology which has a high degree of importance in the fields of maritime safety and has a high degree of demand on the transfer to developing countries, and to concentrate on the selected technology. So, it is necessary to draw valuation factors for maritime safety technology and to decide the priority in order among maritime safety technologies on the basis of valuation factors. Because the weights which show the degree of importance among valuation factors are different from factor to factor, interdependent relationship between factors should be considered on evaluation. In this study, the valuation factors were divided into three groups as the maturity of maritime safety technology, the promotion probability of projects and the degree of importance of technology, and the detailed factors of each group were drawn. A model which used Fuzzy AHP and limiting probability to consider the weights of importance and correlation among valuation factors was developed. To adopt this model, nine types of maritime safety technology in the field of maritime safety information were selected and points were scored for each technology through evaluation. In conclusion, first, ENC related technology was scored to be the highest as 0.0139. Second, the point of ship monitoring technology was scored as 0.0133. Last, oil spill response technology was scored as 0.0132.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1353-1369
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• 2023

In the event of a disaster accident at sea, the scale of damage will vary due to weather effects such as wind, currents, and tidal waves, and it is obligatory to minimize the scale of damage by establishing appropriate control plans through quick on-site identification. In particular, it is difficult to identify pollutants that exist in a thin film at sea surface due to their relatively low viscosity and surface tension among pollutants discharged into the sea. Therefore, this study aims to develop an algorithm to detect suspended pollutants on the sea surface in RGB images using imaging equipment that can be easily used in the field, and to evaluate the performance of the algorithm using input data obtained from actual waters. The developed algorithm uses image enhancement techniques to improve the contrast between the intensity values of pollutants and general sea surfaces, and through histogram analysis, the background threshold is found,suspended solids other than pollutants are removed, and finally pollutants are classified. In this study, a real sea test using substitute materials was performed to evaluate the performance of the developed algorithm, and most of the suspended marine pollutants were detected, but the false detection area occurred in places with strong waves. However, the detection results are about three times better than the detection method using a single threshold in the existing algorithm. Through the results of this R&D, it is expected to be useful for on-site control response activities by detecting suspended marine pollutants that were difficult to identify with the naked eye at existing sites.

• Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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• no.63
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• pp.1-8
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• 2004

The non-magnetic materials with non-conductive showing high structure dispersity were developed on the base of natural quartz and lava-scoria which was collected from Je-ju island in Korea, and treated by methane-chemical technology those were obtained novel properties of magnetization through the analyzing. Depending on the processing conditions and subsequent applications the materials produced by strong methane-chemical reaction (MCR) in alcohol solution showed concurrently magnetic, dielectric and electrical properties. The obtained magnetic-electrical powders classified by aggregate complex of their features as segnetomagnetics, containing a dielectric material as a carrying nucleus, particularly the quartz on that surface one or more layers of different compounds were synthesized having thickness up to 10～50 nm and showing magnetic, electrical and other properties. It was confirmed in magnetizing process that powders of quartz and lava-scoria produced by MCR were better oil adsorbent as of oleophilic and floating matter on water surface although their specific gravities are comparably more than 1 in quartz or less than unity, as that of water, in lava-scoira. Therefore, it will be Possible and very useful to remove low density and light gravity oil spillage in difficult recovery from sea and inland water contamination spread on water surface, by marine accident and ship sinking accident occurring frequently in recent years, by way of magnetic adsorbent conveyer system in continuous, if it could be built up the mass Production system of water-floating magnetizable oleophilic adsorbent materials with use of iow cost and good Qualify lava-scoria spread on volcano district in Je-ju island. And, there will also be urgent advent of necessity with strong possibility to develop useful applications of various magnetic functional materials include oleophilic adsorbent for removal of sea oil-contaminants and maritime pollutants, and other kinds of various utilities in industrial applications and practical uses of novel functional materials in the fields of environments and health care applications with in deep expectation.