• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.48-62
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• 2017

Korea and other countries have made various efforts to preserve soil. During the past several decades, Korea has implemented various policies on soil conservation practices; however, those policies have often lacked consideration of human and ecosystem risk management. while other countries have practiced various policies closely related to risk-based management for contaminated sites. Therefore, there is a great need for a paradigm shift of policy to better manage contaminated sites in risk-based strategies, while applying different management plans for soil and groundwater. In addition, the new policies should be administered with provision to improve soil health and related functions in ecosystem. This study has reviewed the trend in relevant policies in Korea and foreign countries to suggest the future policy directions for contaminated site management in Korea. For better management of contaminated sites, coherent policy that could complement the law, system, and relevant technology is required.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.103-107
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• 2008

In this work, soil environment policy which should be taken into account at brownfield redevelopment projects was deduced from investigation on their environmental impact assessment statements. Soil contamination sources such as small-scale factories were found at a few large-scale brownfield projects, so contaminated soils did often exist at these sites. Especially, military facilities within the sites caused severe soil contamination problems. Therefore, soil environment policy was presented in detail to solve soil contamination problem at brownfield redevelopment projects. Furthermore, land-use planning focusing on greening (soil and vegetation) should be pursued at brownfield redevelopment projects in order to maximize environmental benefits of greenspace.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.11-15
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• 2006

Attempts were made to increase an efficiency of soil contamination investigation systems (SCISs) including Soil Network and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites in Korea. In order to increase low efficiencies resulting from inappropriate SCISs, possible policy suggestions are driven based on the results from problem findings of Korean policy and comparisons of policies on industrialized countries including United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. First, functions of Soil Environment Conservation Act (SECA) on liability should be updated and reinforced to initiate a soil contamination investigation process for stakeholders including an owner(s) or a responsible party(ies) of the potentially soil contamination sites positively. Second, appropriate SCISs should be emerged for implementing the Soil Network and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites properly. Stakeholders for the potentially contaminated sites should easily access and raise the soil contamination issues, and soil contamination investigation implemented by liable and profit environment (consulting) companies should be encouraged. Third, the soil contamination reporting system of SECA needs to change legally responsible. Further more, public announcement system showing soil quality of a site which exceeds a certain scale would be considerable. Fourth, liable environment (consulting) companies should legally execute Soil Environment Assessment of SECA.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.36-46
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• 2021

The Soil Health Index (SHI) developed by Park et al. (2021) is used to evaluate soil health on remediated soils collected from several remediation project sites and monitored the changes of SHI during the remediation process of land farming, soil washing, and thermal desorption. In the case of land farming, the soils remediated below a legal standard didn't show any significant changes in indices of SHI except the downgrade of available phosphate from medium to a low level. The SHI scores were ranged from 52 to 56 in the contaminated soil and 54 to 57 in the remediated soil. With soil washing, bulk density changed from high to a low level, and available phosphate was lowered from medium to low level. As the SHI scores were evaluated as 58 to 63 for contaminated soil and 38 to 42 for remediated soils. For thermal desorption, soil respiration rate was reduced from high to low level and SHI was scored as 50 to 51 for contaminated soils and 43 to 47 for remediated soils. Even though any abrupt changes of the SHI in remediated soils were not identified in the soils used in this study, it is expected that soil in different conditions such as types and concentrations of contaminant and soil characteristics would result in distinguished changes of the SHI. There is a room for more studies collect diverse information on SHI across the country.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Policies of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark were compared and analyzed on risk assessment of contaminated sites. These countries were chosen from a feasible preliminary analysis of 18 countries of the European Union and the U. S. All the countries selected met two major criteria : I) implementation of risk assessment to determine the soil contamination and remediation targets of contaminated sites, ii) use of soil guidance values and risk assessment as complementary measures to determine soil contamination. Suggested policy improvements to Korea regarding these issues include i) legislation of a rational risk assessment methodology of contaminated sites, and ii) enactment of collaboration of risk assessment with the soil guidance values. To establish effective risk assessment legislation, additional in-depth research on social, economic and long-term effects of the proposed risk assessment methodologies, as well as the mutual consent of all parties including academia, industry, and administration will be necessary. Linking risk assessment with soil guidance values would be applicable to a site contaminated where the contaminant concentration exceeds a certain soil guidance value. In parallel, application of risk assessment to a site where a contaminant concentration is naturally different such as mining sites would be plausible. The policy suggestions above are not yet conclusive due to a lack of policy implementation, and simulation. Thus, additional research on developing risk assessment methodology is needed. Nevertheless, initiation of the suggested policy would increase the efficacy of Korean policy regarding the survey and remediation of contaminated sites.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.20-29
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• 2016

Although a number of chemical accidents have been occurred in South Korea, the effective prevention act for soil contamination has not been established so far. To effectively protect soil contamination from chemical accidents, decision support laws and regulations are absolutely essential. Regarding this situation, this study was aimed at diagnosing problems in current chemical safety management and prevention and response system against chemical accidents through analyzing the domestic and foreign causes of chemical accidents and the accident response procedures and finally suggesting policy measures for solving those problems. In order to clarify management of soil contamination by chemical accident, this study suggests the establishment of chemical accident preparedness, response, and making of local chemical management law and policy. This law needs to be supported by a clear management framework to guide government officials and all other stakeholders in the management of soil contamination by chemical accident.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

This review examined the current administrative policies and guidelines for management of reclaimed soils after remediation processes and proposed practical strategies to improve the potential value of the remediated soil as a resource. Three management practices are proposed to facilitate more efficient recycling of remediated soil; obligatory use, quality certification, and tracking of the remediated soils. If properly implemented in utilization of remediated soil, these strategies could contribute to enhancing public safety by assuring soil quality. Such administrative tools, for both suppliers and demanders, are expected to mitigate potential risks associated with the transactions of remediated soil. To enhance the quality assurance process, a soil quality certification combined with the soil health assessment index was proposed. The systematic integration of the suggested practices with soil health assessment can allow to produce optimal results, encompassing affordability, efficiency, and accessibility, which helps establishing more robust 'Remediated Soil Recycling Management System (RSRMS)'. Subsequent researches should be conducted to develop more effective policies that incorporate soil health assessment tools. The proposed management practices for remediated soil, coupled with soil health assessment, can be a pioneering effort to achieve such goals. By fostering an environmentally friendly policies, the sustainable utilization of remediated soil can be attained. Overall, the proposed strategies can provide a sound framework for responsible and sustainable soil management practices.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.10-26
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• 2018

This paper reviews the soil conservation policies (SCP) in the global community and suggests the improved options in SCP in Korea. Soil Environment Conservation Act in Korea states soil is a valuable natural resource and it's value should be enhanced to provide the benefits that soil ecosystem can offer to people. However, SCP in Korea limits its application to not only the scope of soil environment but also the issues on soil pollution. The SCPs in the advanced countries have shifted their scopes from soil environment to soil ecosystem, put emphasis on the conservation of soil health rather than soil quality, and set the goals to optimize the soil ecosystem services to people while minimizing the soil threats. In this context, the soil security initiative was recently proposed to accomplish this goal while employing the nexus concept to bridge the soil ecosystem services with water, atmosphere, climate and biodiversity. Therefore, the key policies in soil conservation in Korea should expand the scope from soil environment to soil ecosystem, focus on soil health management, and develop the holistic governance among diverse stakeholder to maximize the soil ecosystem services. Soil ecosystem should be secured by national soil policies for human health.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.106-115
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• 2009

Knowledge about how to stabilize soil structure is essential to conserve soil systems and maintain various biogeochemical processes through soil. In urban area, soil structural systems are degraded with inappropriate management and land use and become vulnerable to erosion. We analyzed the structural changes of surface soils with different land uses, i.e., forests, parks, roadside green area, riparian area, and farmlands (soybean fields), in the Anyang Stream Watershed in order to find the factors influencing the stability of soil structure and the implication for better management of surface soil. Soil organic matter contents of other land use soils were only 18~52% of that in forest soils. Soil organic matter increased the stability of soil aggregates in the order of soybean fields < roadsides < riparian < parks < forests and also reduced soil bulk density (increased porosity). The lowest stability of soybean field soils was attributed to the often disturbance like tillage and it was considered that higher stability of park soils comparing to other land use soils except forests was owing to the covering of soil surface with grass. These results suggest that supply of soil organic matter and protection of soil surface with covering materials are very important to increase porosity and stability of soil structure.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.27-47
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• 2006

Attempts were made to increase an efficiency of soil contamination investigation systems(SCISs) including Soil Contamination Fact-Finding Investigation Sites and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites in Korea. In order to increase low efficiencies resulting from inappropriate SCISs, possible policy suggestions are driven based on the results from problem findings of Korean policy and comparisons of policies in industrialized countries including United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. First, functions of Soil Environment Conservation Act(SECA) on liability should be updated and reinforced to initiate a soil contamination investigation process for stakeholders including an owner(s) or a responsible party(ies) of the potentially soil contamination sites positively. Second, appropriate SCISs should be emerged for implementing the Soil Contamination Fact-Finding Investigation Sites and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites properly. Stakeholders for the potentially contaminated sites should easily access and raise the soil contamination issues, and soil contamination investigation implemented by liable and profit environment (consulting) companies should be encouraged. Third, the soil contamination reporting system of SECA needs to change legally responsible. Further more, public announcement system showing soil quality of a site which exceeds a certain scale would be considerable. Fourth, liable environment (consulting) companies should legally execute Soil Environment Assessment of SECA.