Stories from Seosan · South Korea

A tanker, identified as 'Tanker 5-4,' carrying 1 million barrels of crude oil, which is half of South Korea's daily consumption, has arrived and is berthed at a sea mooring facility near Chungnam Seosan Daesan Port. The tanker safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tax revenue at the Daesan Industrial Complex has dropped to one-tenth of previous levels. The average factory operation rate fell to 74% last year, the lowest among South Korea's three largest petrochemical complexes. Chungnam Province has initiated emergency support of 500,000 won per person for 5,000 workers and freight transporters in the area. Local representatives are calling for the complex to be redesignated as a national industrial complex to secure government-led structural improvements. Residents of Daesan-eup in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, are demanding the Daesan Industrial Complex be reclassified as a national industrial complex. The community is facing long-term economic stagnation and a decline in workers due to the aftermath of the war in Ukraine.