[The Hwankyung Ilbo] It has been confirmed that 63% of 996 facilities that emit dioxin, a class-one carcinogen, are incineration facilities, and all 25 facilities that have exceeded the permissible level over the past three years are incineration facilities.

According to the data submitted to Rep. Shin Chang-hyun of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Ministry of Environment, there are 996 dioxin emission facilities across the country, including 632 waste incineration facilities, and 364 non-incineration facilities such as steel and cement manufacturing facilities as of the end of 2018.

The Ministry of Environment inspected 561 facilities from 2016 to the end of 2018 and found that 25 facilities exceeded the dioxin emission allowance and they were all incineration facilities.

All such incineration facilities have received administrative disposition, such as improvement orders or suspensions, and some are under investigation.

“Only 14% of the facilities are inspected annually by the Ministry of Environment,” Rep. Shin Chang-hyun said. “We need to strengthen our guidance and inspection focusing on incineration facilities that exceed much of the criteria."

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