[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL: "USFK’s Toxic Record in Yongsan," South Koea

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

USFK’s Toxic Record in Yongsan

by Ben Jackson
Korea Expose
June 24, 2017  

 
Critics of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 claimed the United States was moving into a foreign territory in order to take its oil. But here’s a new one: The U.S. military occupies a swathe of foreign soil for 65 years, fills it with oil, then moves out. That’s what appears to be happening at United States Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan, the beleaguered base at the heart of South Korea’s capital.

The United States has almost 200,000 active military personnel stationedoverseas. After Japan and Germany, South Korea hosts the third largest portion of these, with some 23,500 U.S. troops on its soil. And its soil is feeling the consequences: Decades of U.S. presence on bases around the country have left a toxic track record of polluted earth and groundwater that the US does not seem willing to deal with. 

USAG Yongsan is still the nerve center of United States Forces Korea (USFK)’s national base network. Covering more than 300 hectares in central Seoul, the base stretches south from Mt. Namsan to the Han River and has been occupied by USFK since 1953. The huge tract of land is due to be returned to the South Korean government in 2018, when USFK relocates to the western coastal city of Pyeongtaek, and is due to start a new life as a park. But revelations of serious pollution on the base have provoked a dispute between USFK and Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) about who should be responsible for cleaning up. 



…

For the entire article, see
https://koreaexpose.com/usfk-yongsan-contamination-toxic-record/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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