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By Kim Se-jeong
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is organizing a forum on oil contamination in the soil of U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan in central Seoul, Thursday, in an effort to pressure the U.S. to clean the site before its relocation is completed.
The city said the forum has enormous backing from citizens.
“We’re organizing this knowing there’s support coming from the public,” a city official said.
In May, the city conducted a survey of 3,040 Seoul residents, and 65 percent responded that the U.S. military should be held responsible for cleaning up any oil contamination and must do it before the land is returned ― the United States Forces Korea(USFK) headquarters and Eighth Army headquarters are currently relocating to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, which is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
The city’s move comes after a court ordered the Ministry of Environment to reveal the results of two inspections of the U.S. military base ― it conducted three inspections but only released the results of the first one to the public.
The forum is also intended to pressure the central government ― the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ― to put pressure on the USFK to share data on past contamination records and to clean the site. “To solve this problem, action from the central government is critical,” the official said.
One motivation for the city is money. So far, the local government has paid 7 billion won for cleanup operations outside the base’s perimeter. After the U.S. military moves out, the city will turn the area into a public park. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation estimates the onsite cleanup would cost 103 billion won. Environmental groups’ estimates are more than 1 trillion won.
Green Korea, an NGO advocating for a cleanup paid for by the U.S., welcomed Seoul’s move.
“It’s time for Seoul to act when the central government isn’t doing anything,” said Yoon Sang-hoon, an activist from Green Korea.
Oil contamination at the Eighth Army headquarters on USAG Yongsan was first reported in the early 2000s. In 2001, the city discovered a huge contamination spot near the camp during the construction of Noksapyeong Subway Station. The U.S. military rejected a request by the city government and civic groups to run a comprehensive investigation into the alleged base leak. They only settled on a promise by the U.S. military to clean up its own mess.
Other leak cases kept being reported ― the Ministry of Environment has since received official reports of five.
The central government came under criticism over these.
Despite pressures to hasten the Yongsan Relocation Plan (YRP), it refused to act, saying the U.S. was not required to reveal the information according to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The environment ministry even refused to share the test results with the public, triggering lawsuits by civic groups, who argued the government should do whatever it could to get the U.S. military to act when it comes to public health.
In April, Green Korean revealed the American military had been aware of at least 84 leaks on USAG Yongsan between 1994 and 2015 ― seven of which involved at least 3.7 tons of oil.
Benzene, a chemical believed to cause cancer, was found in 10 spots around the camp, and the amount, at the worst area, was 2.44 milligrams per liter, 162 times over the accepted limit.
