There have been around one-thousand-400 maritime pollution accidents resulting in a spill of one-point-77 million liters of pollutants into the waters close to the Korean Peninsula in the past five years.

Citing data from the Coast Guard on Sunday, ruling People Power Party Rep. Lee Dal-gon said there was an annual average of 271 maritime pollution accidents between 2017 and May of this year.

Ninety percent of the pollutants were oil, and 289 of the total cases were reported from nearby the southeastern port city of Busan. The southwestern cities of Yeosu and Mokpo reported 170 and 121 cases, respectively.

The largest amount of 704-thousand-200 liters of pollutants were spilled near the southeastern city of Tongyeong, of which 629-thousand-100 liters were leaked after a vessel sank into the ocean on September 11, 2020.

Thirty-six-point-five percent of the cases were due to negligence, followed by 30-point-five percent caused by maritime accidents.