This claim from Green Korea I find very suspicious:

Many Korean civilians were mobilized to spray various chemical defoliant products near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the 1970s, an environmental civic group claimed Wednesday, citing the testimony of a farmer who was part of the operation.

It is the latest in a series of claims related to the improper management of toxic chemicals by the U.S. Army here, followed by recent allegations that Agent Orange and other chemical substances were dumped in U.S. military camps in the 1970s.

“He (the informant) said he and probably many other civilians were requested to spray defoliant without any protection not knowing what it was back then,” said Shin Hyun-ho, an official from Green Korea United. “He was simply informed that what they were using was a chemical to kill weeds, given no protective instructions or gear.”

The official said the defoliant they allegedly sprayed was different to Agent Orange. It was first known in 1999 that the U.S. and Korean troops sprayed defoliant products on the heavily fortified border where North Korean infiltrations frequently took place in the 1970s.

But they are the first allegations that civilians were mobilized to spray the toxic chemicals.

Since the farmer, who wanted to remain anonymous, joined the operation, he has suffered from asthma due to exposure to the chemical, but failed to receive any compensation, Shin said.

“Back then, the U.S. military gave the defoliant to people without any regulations. The civilian says he has kept some residue of the chemical defoliant as evidence to receive compensation,” the official said.  [Korea Times]

First of all Green Korea has little creditability on environmental issues since it focuses on USFK and anti-US issues like the mad cow nonsense, while mostly ignoring the massive pollution concerns all around Korea though they will occasionally protest something that Lee Myung-bak is doing.  Let’s not forget how the environmental movement in Korea was linked to a North Korean spy scandal a few years ago.

Green Korea clearly has a creditability problem so lets now focus on the guy making the claims.  First of all, did he make any prior compensation claims?  It seems pretty convenient that he pops up now asking for compensation.  This seems like a basic fact that the Korea Times should have asked, but I quit expecting journalism out of the Korea Times a long time ago.  Secondly what is the defoliant if it is not agent orange?  Why didn’t the guy keep the original bag of defoliant instead of putting in into the rice bag shown above?  Until further evidence is provided I find this claim of him spreading agent orange or any other toxic chemical suspicious.

Despite the creditability problems with Green Korea and the claimant that doesn’t mean that defoliants were not spread by civilians along the DMZ:

Defoliants were dumped at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the end of the 1960s.

The Defense Ministry said Thursday that the U.S. Forces Korea Command issued an order to dump defoliants at areas near the DMZ in March 1968. The ministry said around 26-thousand people were mobilized to dump some 220-thousand liters of defoliants in 1968 and 1969 under supervision from U.S. forces.

The dumping incident was classified as a military secret.

Testimonies have also emerged that private Korean citizens were mobilized to dispose of the chemicals in the 1970s.

The announcement comes in the wake of several U.S. veteran claims that chemicals, including the toxic defoliant Agent Orange, were buried at U.S. Forces Korea bases in the late 1970s.  [KBS Global]

What is unclear is whether this was agent orange or not?  I have never heard of agent orange being spread by hand, I have always read that it was sprayed by air.  Could these defoliants that were spread by hand have been other more conventional defoliants that are not toxic like agent orange is?  I don’t know but it seems like something that a legitimate journalist would try and figure out.