Gov't launches investigation into alleged Agent Orange burial

SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Environment Ministry has launched an investigation into the area where the U.S. military allegedly buried leftover Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used during the Vietnam War, ministry officials said Friday. The ministry said it has sent a group of its officials and environment experts from the ministry's research institutions to Chilgok, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the site of Camp Carroll of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). A U.S. terrestrial TV station reported earlier this week, citing three veterans, that USFK buried the highly toxic substance at Camp Carroll some 30 years ago. The Environment Ministry on Thursday demanded the United States verify the news report at an environment committee under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The U.S. Eighth Army that has Camp Carroll under its command said USFK was verifying the report. "The investigation team will make an on-site inspection of Chilgok in the afternoon," said an official from the ministry. "They will check environmental and underground water conditions around the camp first and map out a detailed schedule for the investigation." Officials said that the ministry also plans to ask the U.S. side to jointly investigate the camp. Some 28,500 American service members are in the country, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The SOFA, signed in 1967 between South Korea and the U.S., governs the legal status of U.S. soldiers, their staff and families stationed here.