An environmental pollution inspection of the former Camp Kim site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, which the U.S. Forces Korea returned to the Ministry of National Defense a year and a half ago, discovered carcinogens 9 meters deep in the ground. About 97% of the total area was contaminated with substances hazardous to the human body including carcinogens.

The Korea Environment Corporation conducted a survey to assess the soil contamination in the former Camp Kim site from October 25, 2021 until March 23, 2022 upon request from the defense ministry. The results will be used as the basis for cleanup operations of the site.

According to the defense ministry’s report on the Camp Kim site soil survey, which the Kyunghyang Shinmun obtained through the office of independent lawmaker Youn Mee-hyang on May 15, of the total 46,680 m2 area of Camp Kim, 97% (45,184m2) was polluted at levels exceeding the Area 1 standards. The volume of soil that required a cleanup reached 221,257m3--requiring 14,750 25-ton dump trucks, when we assume that each truck can carry 15m3.

In some areas, up to 112mg of nickel, a class-1 carcinogen, was detected in 1kg of soil from 8-9m in the ground. As for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), which shows the contamination from oil leaks, inspectors detected up to 16,987mg of TPH per 1kg of soil from 1-2m in the ground. This is more than 8.5 times the permitted level. Inspectors also found up to 52,687mg of lead per 1kg of soil, 25 times the legal standard, from 0.3-0.6m in the ground. They found eleven substances including these and carcinogens, such as xylene and benzo[a]pyrene exceeding the soil contamination concern level for Area 1 in 152 locations in the former Camp Kim site.

The Camp Kim site is located northwest of the presidential office in Yongsan and is adjacent the site of the Yongsan Park. The Moon Jae-in government said that it would clean up the site and supply 3,100 public homes there when announcing real estate measures on August 4, 2020. The Soil Environment Conservation Act states that in order to create a residential area, park or school in a certain area, the soil contamination level must be lower than the standard for Area 1.

The government plans to launch a cleanup operation based on the soil analysis. A defense ministry official said, “Currently, we are designing plans for the cleanup,” and added, “After this, we plan to conduct cleanup operations for two to four years.”

However, South Korea and the United States have yet to determine how to divide the huge cost of the soil cleanup. An official from the environment ministry said, “We are proceeding with it (negotiation between South Korea and the U.S. on the responsibility for the environmental cleanup) by having the land returned first and holding talks later,” and explained, “As for the responsibility for the cleanup, discussions are currently underway, but no meaningful progress has been made so far.”

Some experts are worried that if President Yoon Suk-yeol (Yoon Seok-youl) rushes to temporarily open the Yongsan Park, it could weaken the government’s leverage in negotiations. They fear that South Korea could end up shouldering a considerable portion of the cleanup costs, without sufficient negotiations. President Yoon announced that the government would receive 548,000m2 of land from the U.S. base near the defense ministry back from the USFK by the second quarter this year and begin to temporarily and gradually open part of the area in September.

Lawmaker Youn Mee-hyang said, “In the case of Camp Market in Bupyeong, Incheon, it cost 84.2 billion won for a two-year cleanup of 210,000m2,” and continued, “Yet the Yoon Suk-yeol government is saying that it will open parts of the U.S. base returned this year immediately only after makeshift measures, so it is disconcerting. The government should properly hold the U.S. responsible for the cleanup costs and properly clean up the site.”