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The picture below is part of the report on asbestos remnants from a high school in Seoul that carried out asbestos dismantling work.
If you look closely, there is something very odd about it.
The electron microscope photo of the asbestos sample taken from the corner of the warehouse floor on the 6th floor of this school and the sample photo taken from the window frame of 3rd grade class 12 are 100% identical.
No, how can an electron microscope picture that can be magnified up to 100,000 times be the same without a single error?
Not only this.
The sample photo of the floor of the 2nd floor classroom and the photo of the top of the outlet in the practical training room on the 6th floor were the same.
Throughout this report, we found several traces of so-called 'copy-paste' with Controls C and V.
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The School Asbestos Remnant Report is intended to verify that there is no asbestos left over after a school has undergone asbestos removal work.
This is because asbestos, a first-class carcinogen, should never remain in the school space where children study and live.
Only when it is concluded that there is no asbestos through the asbestos remnant inspection, that is, 'non-detection', can the dismantling work be completed completely after dismantling the negative pressure device that filters the indoor air with a filter at the classroom site where asbestos is dismantled.
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However, since it was a sham test that only 'copy-pasted' the resulting picture, it is possible that dangerous asbestos may actually remain in the classroom space.
Since the school asbestos construction, which was sloppyly inspected, was already a year ago, some of the children may have already inhaled asbestos after school started.
As a result of a recent audit by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, it was revealed that four asbestos investigation companies carried out spurious asbestos investigations at 17 elementary, middle and high schools in the Seoul area.
One school's asbestos investigation report had a photo overlap rate of over 60%.
However, these companies are said to have explained to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, "It was a business mistake."
Why did such an absurd thing happen?
The case goes back to the detection of asbestos at Inheon Elementary School in Seoul in 2018.
At that time, even after asbestos removal work, asbestos was detected in the classroom, and the opening of school was delayed by a month.
Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon caused a stir by appearing at the school in a dustproof uniform.
At that time, the countermeasure that Superintendent Cho came up with was 'electron microscope inspection'.
The idea was to look closely at the remaining asbestos by examining samples taken after asbestos dismantling work under an electron microscope.
It's an idea that can be done enough for children's health.
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However, asbestos-related civic groups opposed Superintendent Cho's electron microscopy method.
Why?
Although the purpose is very good, the reason was that the actual conditions could not reach it and side effects could occur.
While schools that dismantle asbestos are overflowing during vacations, there are not many companies that dismantle or analyze asbestos.
In this situation, if the electron microscope inspection method is introduced, the equipment is already expensive, but there is no way that small asbestos investigation companies can do it properly.
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Nonetheless, Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon pushed ahead with the electron microscopy method.
Oddly enough, companies that claim to be able to perform electron microscopy have started popping up, raising their hands.
For reference, the Ministry of Employment and Labor designates and manages asbestos investigation agencies, but electron microscopes are not mandatory for companies to have.
And today's electron microscope picture 'copying' situation broke out.
Civic groups point out that the bogus asbestos investigation was somewhat foreseen.
He said that he did not have the ability to investigate asbestos with an electron microscope, but it was not something that could be done just by raising the standard.
The purpose of companies blind to making money was to somehow win contracts, and equipping them with electron microscope analysis capabilities was practically an afterthought.
Some asbestos investigation companies assured schools that had to finish dismantling asbestos in a hurry during the vacation by saying that they could make a report in just three or four hours as soon as they took a sample.
Looking at this reality, it is impossible to erase the feeling that the criteria for electron microscopy were tabletop discussions.
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Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, who made a surprise appearance in a dustproof suit during the asbestos detection incident at Inheon Elementary School, where was he during this absurd asbestos inspection incident?
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education only issued a two-page press release with a very simple outline of the incident.
Even though it was an equally serious asbestos incident, the response of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education was so different that it was comparable.