US forces discharge toxic chemicals

Claims have been made that the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea have discharged a large quantity of toxic chemicals into the Han River through the sewage system.

The Green Korea United (GKU) revealed at a press conference held at the Christian Association Hall on the 13th that the U.S. 8th Division had released 20 boxes of corpse preservatives, formaldehyde and methanol, into the sewers without treatment on Feb. 9th.

Evidence including a picture of the scene of discharge, an empty bottle and a deposition by the person in charge at that time was provided by the GKU.

According to the deposition, deputy head of the mortuary(Albert Mcfarland) had ordered a private to dispose of the corpse preservative chemicals in the sink. When the private had protested that the toxic chemicals would flow into Han River, Mr. Mcfarland had harshly abused the private and forced the order to be carried out. On the bottle label, it specifically stated that the chemical was toxic and making it non-toxic was impossible. To add, a warning was given to avoid places where the chemical can flow into water sources.

The U.S. armed forces is known to treat corpses sent to the U.S. with formaldehyde in order to prevent decomposition.

The GKU asserted that during the process of investigation, some people revealed such occurrences had been quite frequent. This issue reared its head after military workers, who were exposed to the formaldehyde, took 3 week sick leaves, explained the GKU.

A report was made to the 34th command of the U.S. 8th Division on May 15th.

The 34th command concluded that as the chemicals become unharmful when mixed with water, the disposal of the chemicals into the Han River does not present any problems. However, in accordance to U.S. armed forces regulations, these chemicals can only be disposed of through the pump system located on the U.S. military base in Okinawa.

Lim Sang-Jin, the administrative head, revealed he had been informed of this issue in June, but had waited until the 34th command`s conclusive report. He added that this event confirms the deceitful attitude held by the U.S. armed forces towards the Korean people.

The GKU has made demanded that the U.S. armed forces and the Korean government punish the individual(s) who ordered the disposal of the toxic chemicals, asking for a formal apology from the U.S. armed forces commander,

Schwartz and the inclusion of environmental regulations into the SOFA. A lawsuit is to be filed with the Seoul people being the plaintiff and the minister of environment being the defendant.

The U.S. armed forces in Korea, which has received a formal request for confirmation on the this incident from the Ministry of Environment, remarked that an official announcement will be made as soon as investigations are completed.

-Formaldehyde: This extremely toxic chemical often called formalin is used as corpse preservative -and disinfectant. Long-term exposure can bring upon emotional disturbance, memory loss and maritime life decease. In case of humans, symptoms of disorder arise after exposure to 30ppm of the chemical.

Formaldehyde is designated as a toxic substance, which can harm the environment, by the Ministry of Environment, and the disposal of the substance is stringently controlled under the Waste Disposal Regulations.