[Return of U.S. Bases] Plans to Collect Evidence on “Responsibility for Pollution” and to Demand Costs: A Change of U.S. Attitude Will Be Crucial

Negotiations Begin for the Return of the Yongsan Base: A landscape of the U.S. military base in Yongsan, Seoul. On December 12, the government officially launched talks with the U.S. Forces Korea for the return of the base. The government plans to turn the site into the Yongsan Park. Lee Suck-woo

After the government received back four USFK bases, attention is on how it will proceed with discussions on the responsibility and costs for the environmental pollution and cleanup. The government has plans to set specific standards on the ambiguous “known, imminent and substantial endangerment to human health” in its negotiations with the U.S. However, the key is how much the U.S. is willing to change its attitude. On December 12, environmental groups described the latest agreement as “humiliating.”

On December 11, the government received the sites of four military bases from the U.S.: Camp Market in Bupyeong, Incheon; the Shea Range at Camp Hovey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi-do; and Camp Eagle and Camp Long in Wonju, Gangwon-do. The government decided to shoulder the cleanup costs for now, while continuing negotiations with the U.S. to hold them responsible for the cleanup.

First, the government plans to collect evidence on U.S. responsibility during the cleanup process. After calculating the specific costs, the government is expected to ask the U.S. to shoulder the costs in the negotiations. At present, the government estimated 114 billion won just to clean up the four bases, but the amount is expected to increase when the actual cleanup begins.

A relevant study was launched by the National Assembly Budget Office in November and is currently in progress. The government plans to calculate the costs to clean up the pollution in the U.S. bases, along with the opportunity costs due to the delay of the return and present them as grounds in the negotiation. Reportedly, the study is expected to end in January 2020.

Fundamentally, the government has plans to stipulate the specific pollution levels for which the U.S. would be responsible for the clean up in the Status of Forces Agreement documents. South Korea and the U.S. have engaged in a tug-of-war on the responsibility because there were no specific standards on the danger of pollution. Once the standards are specified, they can be applied to the environmental discussions on the 22 U.S. bases yet to be returned, including the U.S. base in Yongsan, which has just entered the return process.

The government assessed the U.S. decision to continue discussions on the cleanup responsibility as a positive move, and has high expectations for the upcoming discussions. In the past, the U.S. insisted on not continuing negotiations once the bases were returned.

However, even if the U.S. engages in negotiations on the cost, it is uncertain as to whether it will show any change in attitude. The U.S. has denied any damage due to the pollution, because American soldiers resided in the bases in question with no problems. There is no precedent anywhere in the world where the U.S. has paid for the cleanup costs for its bases. A South Korean government official also said, “It’s not going to be an easy negotiation.” The environmental organization, Green Korea held a press conference in front of the foreign ministry in Doryeom-dong, Seoul this day and criticized the government negotiations as “a humiliating and shameful negotiation, in which the government not once managed to apply the principle of the polluter shouldering the cost,” and added, “The government praising itself as if it could hold the U.S. responsible is a scheme to trick the people.”

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