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The return of five US military bases to South Korea is being held up over Washington‘s refusal to pay decontamination costs for the sites after a government inspection found all five to have “harmful” levels of soil and underground water contamination, a lawmaker is claiming.

Woo Won-shik, a lawmaker with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, announced on Nov. 2 that Korea Environment Corporation harmfulness assessments gave “harmful” ratings to all five of the US military bases that are currently being discussed for a return to South Korean control.

Woo cited Ministry of Environment briefing data for the sites, which include the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO) in Busan; Camp Casey and Camp Hovey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province; and Camp Eagle and Camp Long in Wonju, Gangwon Province.

The harmfulness assessment was conducted in accordance with joint environmental impact procedures agreed upon by South Korea and the US in 2009. Assessments performed since 2011 on the five bases that are under discussion for return have turned up measures in excess of worrisome levels for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), benzene, toluene, and other petroleum-based contaminants, as well as heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and fluorine.

In the case of Camp Casey, which is slated for use as a university site after the return, a total of 66,339 ㎡- 42% of the total area - was found to be contaminated. Camp Hovey, which is slated for use as a power plant site, had lower standard levels as an industrial zone, but still had 18,410 square meters in excess of them (34% of the total area).

Another 29,098 ㎡ (8.7%) exceeded standard levels at Camp Long, a future culture and sports park site, while 24,319 ㎡ (5.3%) was in excess at Camp Eagle, a future site for stationing South Korean troops.

According to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), bases returned from USFK are to be decontaminated at US expense until they reach levels agreed upon at environmental treatment negotiations by the South Korea-US environmental subcommittee.

But USFK has refused to carry out the decontamination, arguing that the levels of contamination do not constitute an “imminent and substantial endangerment to human health.”

“In the case of Camp Hialeah in Busan, which was returned before, environmental treatment costs were projected to be around 300 million won (US$280,000) before the return, but ended up costing 14.3 billion won (US$13.3 million),” said Woo Won-shik.

“If the US continues holding out and we get the bases back as is, the costs will be astronomical,” he predicted.

By Lee You Ju-hyun, staff reporter

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