Spotlight: "Tip of iceberg" revealed for serious pollutions inside U.S. military base in S.Korea

South Korean green activists and lawyers on Monday revealed serious pollutions inside the U.S. military base in the heart of the country's capital city, which they described as the "tip of an iceberg".

Green Korea United, green activist group, and Lawyers for a Democratic Society, an advocacy group composed of liberal attorneys, held a joint press conference in Seoul along with the association of residents to recover Yongsan U.S. Army garrison.

They disclosed 84 oil spill incidents, which had happened inside the Yongsan garrison in Seoul from 1990 to 2015.

The data were obtained from the Pacific Command of the Pentagon through the Freedom of Information Act, a U.S. law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of information controlled by the U.S. government.

The 84 cases included 7 "worst" pollutions in which at least 3.78 tons of oil was leaked. The number of cases with "severe" oil spill of over 0.4 tons was 32 in the past 25 years. The severity of contamination was defined according to the U.S. forces' own standard.

It was "the most conservative data", said Yoon Sang-hoon, secretary general of the Green Korea United, given that the source of contamination inside the Yongsan base has never been investigated.

Six of the 14 known pollution incidents, made public by the parliament, the environment ministry and local media, were not included in the documents offered by the Pentagon, indicating the still hidden contamination inside the Yongsan base.

The concealment of environmental pollutions by U.S. soldiers stationed here escalated anti-U.S. sentiment among South Koreans as seen in the 2000 incident where a civilian worker of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) ordered a spill of hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde, known as one of the most hazardous carcinogens, into a drain.

At the time, Green Korea United filed a complaint against the USFK worker as the toxic substance led directly into the Han River running throughout the capital Seoul. The incident served as a motive for "The Host," a 2006 South Korean blockbuster monster film directed by Bong Joon-ho.

The green activists initially asked for a wide range of information, including the list of hazardous waste treated in the Yongsan garrison, the basic environmental information and the budget for environmental remediation, but the Pentagon only provided documents on oil spills.

The disclosure of oil leaks would be the "tip of an iceberg" in the colossal contamination the U.S. forces will leave behind, before moving to their new base in Pyeongtaek, Shin Soo-yun, the head of peace ecology team at Green Korea United, told Xinhua.

The U.S. bases, including the USFK headquarters and the Eighth U.S. Army, both in Yongsan, and the 2nd Infantry Division to north of Seoul, are scheduled to be moved to a new garrison in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul, by the end of 2018. The relocation plan, which kicked off in early 2005, was delayed by two more years last year.

Asked about the ongoing installation of a U.S. missile shield, called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korean territory, the green activist said hearings must be first held to listen to what residents living near the THAAD deployment site say.

The U.S. forces have claimed no harm of the X-band radar to human body and environment, but the activist said the U.S. side should be held responsible for proving its harmlessness. The AN/TPY-2 radar is known to emit super microwaves, detrimental to human health and the conservation of nature.

The environment ministry of South Korea had conducted three surveys of environmental contamination inside the Yongsang garrison since May 2015, but it has refused to make the findings public.

The appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling on Dec. 14, 2016 to order the ministry to disclose the findings, saying the disclosure of information and the public discussion on issues like the land pollution in the U.S. military base would contribute to national interests. But, the ministry appealed again to the Supreme Court.

The Seoul city government has pumped up contaminated underground water around the Yongsan base as part of cleanup efforts. Two oil pollution incidents, which occurred in 2001 and 2006 around the garrison, were caused by the source from inside.

According to the city government's monitoring data, toxic substances were found at hundreds to thousands times the purification standard around the base.

Around the Noksapyeong subway station in the southern part, the level of benzene was detected in underground water at almost 600 times the standard in 2016. The concentration surged to as high as over 2,800 times in 2011.

Near Camp Kim in the garrison's northern part, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was found at concentrations over 500 times the standard in 2016. The level was 8,633 times the purification standard in the previous year.

Other pollutants that risk causing cancer were found around the two purification facilities, set up by the Seoul city government to clean them up.

"It is urgent to share information on contaminations inside the Yongsan garrison to look again into the base and draw up remediation and public health schemes," said Kim Hui-jung, environment professor at Kangwon National University who warned against little information on how much polluted the U.S. base is.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed in 1966 between South Korea and the United States, neither offer South Koreans the right to investigate or access the U.S. military base when pollution accident occurs on the base, nor guarantee information sharing or access to information by South Koreans.

Kwon Jung-ho, attorney at the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, said the 2003 SOFA annex on environment is of little help as it is not legally binding, demanding the revision of the SOFA as rapidly as possible. Enditem