Courts order disclosure of USFK base pollution assessment

Posted on : 2010-10-13 15:23 KST Modified on : 2010-10-13 15:23 KST
Upon USFK relocation, courts side with groups moving to transform USFK lands into new uses
 Mar. 23
Mar. 23

By Noh Hyun-woong

 

A series of court rulings have emerged stating that the Ministry of Environment must disclose findings of environmental impact assessments (EIA) on pollution at U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) bases to the public. Analysts have predicted other similar disclosures in the days ahead as base transfers proceed with the relocation of USFK.

On Tuesday, the Fifth Administrative Division of Seoul Administrative Court, under Judge Lee Jin-man, announced that it had ruled in favor of the Busan Branch of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) in its suit against the Ministry of Environment. The branch was requesting that the court overturn a decision not to disclose the results of an environmental pollution study conducted at Camp Hialeah, a USFK base in Busan.

“It is principle for a public institution to disclose all information it possesses to citizens in order to guarantee the people’s right to know and ensure citizen participation in governance and the transparency of governance,” the court said in its ruling. “The grounds for granting exceptions to information disclosure need to be interpreted strictly.”

The ruling went on to say, “With negotiations currently under way between the governments of South Korea and the U.S. to remedy pollution at the USFK sites scheduled for reversion, we cannot accept the argument that disclosing the results of environmental pollution investigation findings for USFK bases in the Busan area will cause problems in the negotiations or function to the detriment of the Republic of Korea. It is unlawful to treat this information as not for disclosure based on the opinion that it might significantly harm major national interests.”

The court also said, “It is impossible to take the view that the Ministry of Environment, which oversees matters related to the prevention of environmental pollution, will be impeded in performing its duties fairly if this information is disclosed. Even if it leads to noncooperation in the process of negotiations with the United States, the court cannot accept that the Ministry of Environment will be impeded significantly in its duties simply on that basis.”

A decision was reached some time around 2002 to shut down Camp Hialeah, which has been stationed in Busan’s Busanjin District since September 1950, and procedures began for the site’s reversion to South Korea. South Korea and the U.S. carried out environmental pollution studies in 2006 and 2009. In response, the Citizens’ Campaign for a Citizens’ Park on the Hialeah Site, an organization of Busan-area civic organizations, requested an information disclosure and filed a lawsuit when the Ministry of Environment rejected the request.

Previously, the Ministry of Environment rejected a request for disclosure of the findings of an environmental pollution study on Camp Page, which has been stationed in Chuncheon since 1955. The ministry claimed that the disclosure “could compromise the nation’s interests, as it has to do with national security and foreign relations.”

However, the Seoul Administration Court ruled that it had to make the results public, and the Supreme Court confirmed the ruling last year. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said, “As the information subject to disclosure has to do with the contents of an environmental pollution study and its findings, expenses, and the parties involved, the court cannot take the view that it compromises major interests of the country.”

  

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