SEOUL (AFP) — A fish seller died Saturday after drinking poison and setting himself ablaze during a protest demanding compensation for South Korea's worst oil spill, officials said.
The suicide by Ji Chang-Hwan follows the recent deaths of two fish farmers, who also drank poison in despair at the destruction of their livelihoods from last month's massive slick, which devastated the nation's west coast.
Ji, 56, died from injuries sustained on Friday when he drank a bottle of herbicide before running on to a stage and dousing himself with paint thinner, witnesses said. He then set himself on fire with a cigarette lighter at a rally in the coastal town of Taean in South Chungcheong Province.
"Mr Ji passed away at 8:07 a.m. (23:07 GMT Friday)," a spokesman for Taean Town Medical Centre told AFP by phone.
His body was transferred from the medical centre to a morgue ahead of preparations for his funeral, said the spokesman, Lee Jung-Hoon.
Ji was among 5,000 people taking part in the rally calling for special laws aimed at compensating victims fully for damage caused by the spill.
The protestors, wearing headbands, waved banners, dead fish and tools used for digging out clams and chanting: "We're dying one after another. Enact special laws."
Taean, 110 kilometres (69 miles) southwest of Seoul, was severely hit when a barge, drifting in stormy weather after its towing cable snapped, smashed into the 147,000-ton Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit on December 7.
The ship was holed in three places, pouring 10,900 tons of oil into the ocean, destroying scores of nearby sea farms and polluting miles of beaches along the Yellow Sea coast.
Tens of thousands of police, troops and volunteers have undertaken a huge clean-up but environmentalists say the damage could last for years.
The recent deaths highlighted mounting anger and despair among residents in the affected areas as authorities are at a loss as how to divide emergency financial aid and donations raised after the incident.
"Residents here are seething with anger," Lee said, adding that another protest has been planned outside the National Assembly and the Samsung Group headquarters on Wednesday. The barge was owned by Samsung Heavy Industries.
Taean residents are calling on companies involved in the spill to pay full compensation and take "unlimited responsibility" for the damage, which runs into the millions of dollars.
Police plan next week to announce the results of an investigation into the accident.
The central government has sent 30 billion won (32 million dollars) of emergency aid to South Chungcheong Province, while another 30 billion won has been raised through public campaigns.
"The money has not yet been distributed as there is no clear principle for dividing it," an official of Taean County told AFP, adding that the six affected areas in the province cannot agree on how to divide it.
About 10,000 fishing households and another 20,000 households operating restaurants, motels and resorts in Chungcheong have been affected either directly or indirectly by the spill.
Insurance companies and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds could face a payout of up to 300 billion won, a Taean County official said.
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