To find characteristics and areas of greater risk of oil spill at the coastal waters in Korea, some of risk factors were analyzed with historical data of oil spill and marine traffic. As a result, it is characterized that frequency of oil spill is increasing year by year and greatest percentage of spill source is fishing boat. It is proposed that the ports of Ulsan, Yeosu, Incheon and Pusan will be designated as primary area of risk as they have a higher risk of oil spills and its response authority is required to maintain appropriate regional response capability for prompt and effective response to a future spill incident. In addition, the regional response equipments at Ulsan are examined under a assumption of a medium size spill and it is found that the use of chemical dispersant can be an alternative when mechanical containment and recovery is not feasible in this area, and the existing response equipments may be appropriate to address that size of spill. However, the response authority is required to maintain more numbers of stronger boom for unsheltered waters and more quantity of concentrate dispersant to disperse all spilled oils on the water, furthermore the response authority should be prepared for a possible future catastrophic spill with sufficient equipments.

• Jong-Hwui Yun