[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL: "Activists urge thorough environmental survey of former USFK base in Chuncheon" (South Korea)

[Lenny Siegel]

Activists urge thorough environmental survey of former USFK base in Chuncheon

Yonhap News Agency (S. Korea)
November 10, 2020

CHUNCHEON, South Korea, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- Civic activists in Chuncheon on Tuesday called on authorities to conduct a sweeping environmental survey on the site of a former United States Forces Korea (USFK) base in the center of the Gangwon Province capital, after about 30 vacant drum cans were found buried there last month.

The activists said the recent discovery of massive drum cans on the former site of Camp Page in Chuncheon, about 90 kilometers east of Seoul, came after soil contamination more than six times the permissible level was detected there in May.

The excavation of over 30 20-liter drum cans presumed to have contained oil products on Oct. 27 has intensified public suspicion that the soil of the former Camp Page site may be contaminated with defoliants and other toxic chemicals.

"The problem of discarded drum cans is very serious because they were found in areas not designated by South Korean authorities as polluted zones," said a civic group advocating for fair compensation over Camp Page soil contamination in a news conference at Chuncheon City Hall.

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For the entire article, see
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20201110008600315

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