“Environmentalists” Sue Korean Government Over USFK Base Pollution

The leftist environmental group Green Korea has now filed a lawsuit against the Korean government over the alledged USFK base pollution on the closed bases that USFK wants to hand over to the government.  Green Korea is suing to have the Korean government hand over all information concerning pollution on the closed bases.  Some of the “shocking” pollution charges are for example higher than normal lead levels were discovered on a firing range!  Can you believe it?  Higher lead levels on a firing range, who would of thought that?  Or that benzene levels in the ground have been found to be higher in areas where there a motor pools and maintenance bays.  Absolutely shocking I tell you.

Now before you starting jumping up and down and demanding that USFK should clean up this “shocking” pollution remember that the Koreans agreed to the clean up costs knowing full well that a rifle range would have higher lead levels and are now backtracking on a signed agreement:

Army officials boil the issue down to two main points: money and sticking to an agreement.

When the base handover agreements were completed by a previous South Korean government, that government agreed to take the land ¿as is,¿ including all buildings and infrastructure at no cost, military officials have said.

Further cleanup efforts beyond what the United States already has done should be handled by the South Korean government as ¿the price of peace,¿ some Army officials say.

USFK has even offered to conduct more clean up on the bases than what the military is even obligated to do:

In an interview earlier this year, USFK commander Gen. B.B. Bell told Stripes that the U.S. sought to compromise, offering to remove all underground fuel tanks on all camps and underground water table remediation on five camps. South Korean officials rejected the offer, Bell said.

This whole base pollution is issue is simply about just keeping the issue alive and simmering while the Camp Humphreys base relocation issue also continues to simmer.  It is not about the environment.  These groups are hoping that eventually if they can keep enough issues simmering that they can continue to demagogue to death to the Korean public than maybe eventually the Korean public will in mass come out against USFK and the Camp Humphreys base relocation.  These groups don’t care about the environment in Korea.  If they did they would be running a Trash Tuesday awareness program instead of Nomad.

It is all about stopping the base consolidation and the pollution issue is just a tried and true tactic to bash USFK with.  If the base consolidation is stopped, you can pretty much kiss the US-ROK alliance goodbye.  The US will not stand for the current status quo in Korea.

For those who have been stationed in Korea can tell you, the USFK camps are like an oasis of green and trees in a polluted urban jungle in Korea.  In fact there has been speculation to turn Yongsan Garrison in Seoul into Seoul’s “Central Park” once it is closed down.  I don’t think the city government would consider turning a polluted trash heap into a park.