The government wants to destroy all crops that were exposed to a toxic leak in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province last month.

According to information from lawmaker Lee Un-ju of the main opposition Democratic United Party and the National Assembly's Welfare Committee on Sunday, some 472.1 ppm of hydrofluoric acid was discovered in 202 out of 205 crop samples the Korea Food and Drug Administration collected from a 312 ha area in the region.

"The hydrofluoric acid discovered in the crops is a direct result of the leak, so the discovery of even a small trace requires them to be destroyed," said a KFDA official. So far 221 ha of farmland has been reported as contaminated, but the investigation shows that the affected area is even greater.