By The US & South Korea have officially decided to begin and investigation into the claims that the toxic defoliant agent orange was buried underneath Camp Carroll:
South Korea said on Sunday it has agreed with the United States military to jointly investigate claims made by U.S. veterans that they helped bury the toxic chemical defoliant Agent Orange at a U.S. army base in South Korea about three decades ago.
The issue could potentially rekindle anti-American sentiment in the country, which saw massive protests against the import of U.S. beef in 2008 and over the deaths of two South Korean girls in an incident allegedly involving U.S. soldiers in 2002.
The United States has nearly 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea, and the two countries are currently grappling with how to deal with North Korea’s nuclear program.
“South Korea and the United States agreed to proceed with a joint probe (into the case) as soon as possible for the quick and transparent resolution of the issue,” Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik’s Office said in a statement on Sunday. [Reuters]
You can read more at the link but what I found of interest is the fact that USFK Commander General Walter Sharp says that no documents have been found in the USFK archive that can substantiate agent orange ever being on Camp Carroll. That goes back to what I was wondering about, why would agent orange be kept on Camp Carroll which is a location so far from the DMZ where it was used? The agent orange would have likely been brought into the country through Incheon which is a port facility much closer to the DMZ.
Based on the comment left earlier this week on this posting, I am leaning towards the theory that something was buried on Camp Carroll and it was shortly uncovered and investigated by USFK in 1979. I can easily see some low level leader tasked with turning in the barrels to be disposed of and instead of doing all the legwork to make that happen decided to just go and bury the stuff instead because it was easier. I am not convinced however that the barrels were agent orange. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were barrels of hazardous material from a Camp Carroll motorpool and these veterans are just mistaken that it was agent orange that was buried.
The idea of a joint investigation is a good one since it will add creditability to the findings once released. It will be interesting to see though how much of Camp Carroll they are going to have to dig up to see if these barrels are in fact there. I would think that by just using a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) over the alleged burial site they could easily settle this matter this week.
6:30 pm on May 22nd, 2011 1
http://www.koreanwar.org/html/units/44eng.htm This site mentions something about Agent Orange at a Camp Beavers as far back as 1968.
I was in the 44th Engineers during 1978 and never heard about a project where barrels were dumped. Although I have heard stories about there being a dump at Camp Mercer at some point and time.
10:43 pm on May 22nd, 2011 2
This story stinks of the old 15 minutes of fame……. I know aircraft is not the only way to deliver the stuff, but where is the nearest airfield during those days?
I have always said “lable something in order to demonize it” in this case AO. Probably 1 in a million Americans can explain the ingredients – most people just say “it’s bad” and rely on others for information.
The ROK is no different. Claims of AO everywhere are forthcoming. The test well company Sa jang nims have already scheduled the lobster dinners at the DHL…….
The property owners are also getting ready to board the gravy train …. Why not?
4:12 am on May 23rd, 2011 3
Now that it is reported chemicals were buried at Camp Carroll the day after the USFK commander said there were no records of those chemicals being there, leaves open another issue. How can the VA deny Agent Orange disease claims based on the records of where it was used and stored when there is now evidence there was such poor record keeping?
2:02 pm on May 23rd, 2011 4
Camp Carroll is a main supply depot, distribution point, and logistics hub for the whole peninsula – I’m sure anyone who has been there has seen the farms of warehouses – so it would be no surprise to me that AO had been stored/warehoused there at one point for inventory purposes and then further shipment to outlying camps and areas, once requested through the logistics chain. As far as record-keeping goes, even in today’s ‘electronic age’, the Army does a terrible job of keeping things filed. The whole “keep in main files area for 3 years, then transfer to RHA (records holding area)” thing rarely ever happens (if you know about TAFFS/MARKS/ARIMS, then you know what I’m talking about), and nobody really seems to care. This isn’t something that is aggressively inspected in the Army, so is it really a big shock no one can find the records, especially the records of something that some people might not want to find??
4:27 pm on May 24th, 2011 5
[...] has now confirmed what ROK Drop commenters have already been saying happened, that in 1978 barrels filled with chemicals were buried on Camp Carroll but were uncovered and [...]
6:11 pm on February 9th, 2012 6
What About Earlier Years?
I Was Stationed At Camp Carroll from March 1973 Thur March 1974.
69Th. Transportation Battalion – 28 Trans Company EAKS2TG69T