[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL: "South Korea effectively gives up on getting US to clean up returned military base in Wonju"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

South Korea effectively gives up on getting US to clean up returned military base in Wonju
US refusal to clean up could set a precedent for the 22 US bases that are still to be returned to South Korea 

By Lim Ji-sun
The Hankyoreh
August 1,2017 


The South Korean government has decided to effectively give up asking the US military to clean up contamination at Camp Long, a base in Wonju, Gangwon Province, that remains “US land” seven years after its closure, as environmental talks with the US have dragged out.

The situation means South Korea is more likely to be on the hook for the costs of cleaning up the 340,000 square meters of the camp, which is to be the first US base returned to South Korea under the Moon Jae-in administration.

“During the next round with the US military [currently planned for mid-August], we plan to halt environmental discussions on Camp Long in Wonju and refer the issue to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ special joint committee as ‘unresolved,’“ explained Kim Ji-yeon, head of the Ministry of Environment’s land and underground water division and the South Korean chairperson on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) environmental subcommittee, in a recent telephone interview with the Hankyoreh.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/805052.html

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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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