hankyoreh

Depleted uranium ammunition

US Forces Korea is currently in possession of depleted uranium ammunition, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Jeong Kyung-doo said on Oct. 11.

The revelation about the weapon, which prompted fears of radiation contamination in the 1990s, is expected to generate controversy.

“We [the South Korean military] do not have any depleted uranium ammunition, but USFK does possess it,” Jeong said in a parliamentary audit of Air Force headquarters by the National Assembly National Defense Committee held at Gyeryongdae in South Chungcheong Province that day.

“Depleted uranium” refers to uranium waste left over after enrichment of the element for use as fuel in nuclear power generation. The US military developed depleted uranium in the 1980s after noting its outstanding penetration capabilities, with proportions 2.4 higher than iron and 1.7 higher than lead. USFK‘s possession of depleted uranium ammunition was also confirmed in Mar. 1997 following a report in Hankyoreh 21, a weekly newsmagazine.

Depleted uranium ammunition became a source of serious global controversy after its use by US troop during the Gulf War in 1991. Some suggested at the time that the ammunition was responsible for the “Gulf War Syndrome” that emerged among some veterans, with symptoms such as chronic fatigue and headaches. The claim was that radioactive dust produced from the ammunition’s impact entered the body through the respiratory organs, resulting in cancer and other diseases.

In response to the controversy, USFK told the Hankyoreh 21 in 1997 that the production, transportation, and storage of depleted uranium ammunition was controlled by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that related work was only permitted to people with a lawful permit recognized by that commission, and that those permits could only be used in situations where actual hostile acts had occurred.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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