The government announced on the 24th that it has identified 17 locations nationwide where emission tests and other inspections were inadequately conducted.
The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, along with local governments, conducted special inspections of 201 private vehicle inspection stations suspected of inadequate or fraudulent inspections for three weeks starting from the 9th of last month.
Government agencies selected companies with lower failure rates compared to other inspection stations as primary inspection targets and closely examined whether these companies were properly adhering to emission testing methods.
As a result of the inspections, cases were identified where inspection procedures were partially omitted in 7 instances. There were also instances of poor documentation of inspection scenes (5 cases) and defective inspection equipment (4 cases).
Local governments can impose operational suspensions on the identified inspection stations for a minimum of 10 days to a maximum of 60 days, depending on the severity of the case. Technical personnel involved in illegal activities may face suspension from their duties.
Ahn Se-chang, director of the Climate and Carbon Policy Division at the Ministry of Environment, noted, "The government and local governments will continue to strengthen the management of private inspection stations to prevent inadequate inspections from occurring."