American Forces Wasted Over a Month

“The American forces should not have wasted so much time investigating just to approve our initial request to do a coring survey.” (South Korea Ministry of Environment official)

On July 8, the Republic of Korea-United States Joint Investigation Team announced the result of their interim investigation to verify claims that defoliant drums were buried at the American military base Camp Carroll in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It has been more than a month since the start of the investigation. The team concluded that there is a possibility that metallic objects are buried under the military base. But their findings stop there: The alleged burial of defoliant drums, the crux of the investigation, could not be confirmed.

Consequently, the investigation team has proceeded to take soil samples by a process called a coring survey to gauge the contamination level. The final report will be released by the end of next month. However, a member of the investigation team cautioned that a coring survey may still not be able to confirm the burial of defoliant drums. Only through direct excavation could it be confirmed.

The American forces are against direct excavation. On July 8, Colonel Birchmeier, the American co-chair of the joint investigation team, basically showed opposition to the idea, saying “It is hard to say whether or not direct excavation should be done.”* Even if direct excavation started now, the result would not be known until the end of September at the earliest.

When the investigation team was established, the American side dismissed Korea’s request to start with a coring survey. Instead, they insisted on only geophysical exploration methods such as the ground penetrating radar (GPR). However, according to the recently released report by Samsung C&T Corporation, the American forces conducted soil and water studies, including the GPR, in 2004. In the end, repeating work that has already been done is nothing but stubbornness. Additionally, it is even rumored that the American forces neglected to make full use of their inspection equipment and human resources, and that absolutely no investigative work was done during the holidays.

When the issue of suspected defoliant burial was raised at the end of May, the American forces promised a quick investigation to verify the claims. However, after more than 50 days have passed, people in the area are wondering if their attitude has changed since then. In June 2002, two young schoolgirls were struck dead by an American armored vehicle, and the ensuing anti-American candlelight demonstrations were in large part due to the inaction of the American forces in the early stages. The American forces do not seem to have changed since that time nine years ago, and I am worried anti-American sentiment may erupt again.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation could not be verified.