A friend mentioned several news articles on SBS, about asbestos contamination in the Seoul subway system when I had asked them about the large air monitoring machine that I recently saw sitting inside the subway (Seoul Station on the blue line). While I had heard of this in the last few years, I checked news sources to see if there was anything new and apparently the use of asbestos has been more wide-spread and worse than I had read of before now. I also overlooked this article in the Chosun Ilbo since I was out of the country at the time.
As per the Korea Times:
Seoul Metro conducted inspections on 30 subway stations from last November and found that 17 had asbestos in the ceilings and platforms.
Among those 17, 14 stations were on subway line 2: City Hall, Euljiro Ip-gu, Sangwangshimni, Hanyang University, Samsung, Sollung, Seoul National University of Education, Socho, Pangbae, Naksongdae, Pongchon, Mullae and Youngdungpogu office. Asbestos fibers were also found in the air at Chungmuro of line three and Sungshin Women’s University and Sookmyung Women’s University stations.
There is also this informative link from the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (sounds almost Communist!) on the asbestos contamination in the Seoul subway system. All sources go on to mention that there is currently no company or agency in Korea that is trained to handle asbestos removal or is certified by the government to do such.
Here is the kicker: though an official from the consulting company said the levels of asbestos fibers in the tested areas were below dangerous levels (by whose standards?) — as an editorial entitled Threat of Asbestos in The Korea Times on January 23, 2007, pointed out that many Koreans have been exposed to the asbestos hazard in these stations:
“most of the stations have undergone major construction, installing elevators, ventilation or other facilities lately. A cold shiver runs down our spine when we consider the vast amount of dust poured on passengers during construction. Asbestos is widely used in insulation and ceiling tiles in subway stations. So, these materials should have been handled very carefully during construction work . . . “
Hindsight is always sharper than foresight but from now on I am taking taxis and buses.
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[...] subway also have asbestos in them, in addition to many of the stations on the original Green Line. As per a thread on this last year, the problem has not gone away and if any station manager has work performed in the station and you [...]