Thousands tons of contaminated water removed from U.S. bases near Seoul

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has removed some 2,000 tons of oil-contaminated water in areas near two U.S. military bases in the capital, city officials said Tuesday amid growing public anxiety over the alleged burial of the toxic chemical Agent Orange inside a U.S. army camp in a southeastern region, Yonhap news agency reported.

According to the report, 128 liters of floating oil and 1,870 tons of polluted underground water have been extracted from areas near Yongsan Garrison, the main U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul, since 2001, citing the municipal government official.

In areas around Camp Kim, adjacent to Yongsan Garrison, the government has pumped out about 440 liters of oil and 100 tons of contaminated underground water since 2008. The total amount of oil and contaminated underground water removed from areas near the two U.S. bases reached 568 liters and 1,970 tons, respectively, the news agency added.

Yonhap also said some 11,776 square meters of soil near Yongsan Garrison and 459 square meters of land around Camp Kim were polluted by oil suspected of having leaked from the bases in 2001 and 2006, respectively.

South Korea and the U.S. are in the midst of jointly investigating claims by retired American soldiers that in 1978 they helped dump large amounts of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Yonhap added.

(아주경제 송지영 기자)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com