Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities have ordered the South Korean-owned Miwon condiment company to suspend operations at one of its production lines for discharging pollution into the Red River north of Hanoi, provincial officials said Friday.

Miwon Vietnam, which makes about 30,000 tons of soy sauce and other condiments per year, is the second foreign company punished by Vietnamese authorities for environmental violations in the past two months.

"We will halt sewage discharges from Miwon's second production line until the company satisfies regulations on waste treatment and remediates the environmental effects," said Tran Xuan Hai, deputy director of natural resources and environment in the northern province of Phu Tho, where Miwon's factory is based.

Hai said Miwon's plant has two manufacturing lines. The first uses pre-milled raw materials imported from other countries and discharges no pollution. The second line, which began operations in December, mills cassava and other tubers at the factory and has been discharging polluted wastewater, he said.

The company admitted it had exceeded legal limits but called the decision unfair.

"There are several Vietnamese-owned factories near ours that also pollute the environment, but local authorities have not taken any action against them," said a company official who declined to be named. "Miwon is being punished first because it is a foreign company."

Vietnamese media have reported heavily on Miwon, comparing its violations to those of the Taiwanese-owned Vedan condiments company, which was fined 7.7 million dollars last week.

Local media have reported that Miwon's substandard treatment system has pumped about 150 cubic metres of wastewater per day into the Red River since late last year.

Miwon chief executive Yoon Suk Chun said the company had hired a government-affiliated contractor, the Centre for Clean Water and Environment Technology Transfer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, to build the factory's wastewater-treatment system.

But he said the system, which cost nearly 8 million dollars, was substandard.

Miwon was forced to terminate the contract and hire a different contractor. Wastewater treatment had been delayed because the system was still in a trial phase, he added.

"Miwon's violations are much less serious than Vedan's," Hai said. "It does not intentionally and furtively discharge untreated wastewater."

Hai said the company had admitted its violations and complied with the government decision so its executives would not be prohibited from leaving the country as Vedan's were.

According to Vietnamese law, discharging pollution or toxic substances into water and failing to take environmental measures despite orders from government agencies is subject to a fine of 300 to 3,500 dollars for each violation or from one to 10 years in prison. (dpa)