An environmental organization in Incheon has called for urgent action after finding that the levels of carcinogenic substances in the D Zone of the former Bupyeong US military base (Camp Market) exceed safety standards. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
INCHEON, Feb. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – An environmental organization in Incheon has called for urgent action after finding that the levels of carcinogenic substances in the D Zone of the former Bupyeong US military base (Camp Market) exceed safety standards.
According to the ‘Camp Market D Zone Hazard Assessment Report’ obtained by the Incheon Green Alliance from the Ministry of Environment on February 6, a total of 17 carcinogenic substances were found to exceed the acceptable risk levels in the area.
The assessment, which simulated residential exposure, revealed that the risk of cancer from soil arsenic could potentially affect 21.8 out of every million people, far exceeding the standard of 1 in a million.
Similarly, dioxins and hexavalent chromium were found to pose cancer risks to 7.88 and 1.42 out of every million people, respectively, surpassing the accepted threshold.
The evaluation also exceeded the safety limits for workers assumed to be exposed in industrial and commercial settings, with arsenic and dioxins among the substances identified as exceeding the risk criteria. Some non-carcinogenic risks were also found to be higher than the standard levels.
Hazard assessments are generally conducted to predict the potential health and environmental impacts of exposure to harmful chemicals. Under the Soil Environment Conservation Act, the degree of harm that soil pollutants pose to human health and the environment is evaluated.
The Incheon Green Alliance had previously requested information disclosure from the Ministry of Environment and secured the Camp Market D Zone hazard assessment report.
A representative from the Incheon Green Alliance emphasized that the cost of decontaminating pollution in areas A and B of Camp Market alone has exceeded 100 billion won, insisting that the U.S. military, responsible for the contamination, should bear the cleanup costs.
Camp Market, located in Bupyeong District, Incheon, was partially returned to South Korea in December 2019, with 210,000 square meters of zones A and B being handed back under a U.S.-Korea agreement.
The remaining 230,000 square meters of the D Zone were officially returned from the U.S. military to the Ministry of Defense in December of the last year.
The city of Incheon has set a goal to create a park that reflects citizens’ wishes, combining the Camp Market site with the surrounding area, including Buyeong Park, to cover a total of 600,000 square meters. Various projects are underway to achieve this vision.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
