Poor management of chemicals blamed



By Kim Rahn



Public concern is rise over the easy availability of sulfuric acid following several crimes in which people threw the chemical in attacks on others.



Last Friday, a professor from a college in Gyeonggi Province, surnamed Seo, threw the acid at a former student against whom he had filed a defamation suit.



The two were in talks at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office seeking mediation after Seo sued the student, identified as Kang, for slander. Kang claimed Seo made him do chores and promised to give money in return, but he was not paid. As the conflict grew, the school decided not to renew Seo's contract next year.



Seo, 37, prepared a container of sulfuric acid and threw it at Kang who was with his parents. Kang had 40 percent of his body burned, and his father, 20 percent, according to police. Kang's mother and two officials at the prosecutors' office had minor burns.



The prosecution arrested the professor for the attack.



Although sulfuric acid is dangerous, obtaining it is not difficult because it is widely used for experiments or for the production of fertilizers. On the Internet there are many postings by people asking how they can buy the chemical.



The law on toxic chemical management states specific facilities which the chemical sellers should be equipped with, but no regulation about buyers, according to an official at the Korea Chemicals Management Association.



"There is no rule limiting the purpose of sulfuric acid purchases," the official said. He said the only requirement for buyers is to leave their personal information that the sellers must keep ― a measure to trace the sales back in case of accidents.



"However, the law does not have details about the information, such as the sellers' checking the buyers' identity through resident registration cards. So even if the buyers provide false information about themselves, there is no way for the sellers to find out," the official said.



According to Internet sources, 500 milliliters of sulfuric acid is sold for 3,500 won.



With such easy access, the chemical is often used in violence as seen in Seo's case.



In 1999, a six-year-old boy had sulfuric acid poured on him by an unknown man near his home in Daegu. He died after 49 days of hospitalization.



During the hospitalization, the boy said a man in the neighborhood was the offender. The man was the person who carried the boy to the hospital right after the incident.



The man had minor burns when he arrived at the hospital with the boy, but police failed to find evidence that he was the attacker.



In 2009, a company head in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, poured sulfuric acid on a woman who had worked for his company and filed a lawsuit against him to get unpaid salary.



He attacked the woman near her home after a local court ordered him to pay 40 million won to her. She received third-degree burns all over her body. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.



