South Korean fact-finding mission members are guided by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David Fox, right, during their visit to Camp Carroll, in Chilgok, southeast of Seoul, Monday, May 23, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL - SOUTH Korea said on Monday it would conduct an environmental survey of dozens of former US military bases amid concerns over the alleged burial of a highly toxic defoliant used in the Vietnam War.
The survey follows a report by a US TV station that leftover Agent Orange was buried in 1978 at Camp Carroll, a US army logistics base at Waegwan, 216km south-east of Seoul.
US and South Korean investigators have launched a survey of the US camp but no significant traces of Agent Orange have been detected so far.
A US veteran also reportedly claimed last week that US troops had buried hundreds of gallons of chemicals at Camp Mercer in Bucheon, west of Seoul, between 1963 and 1964.
The defence ministry said it has formed a task force to survey 85 former US installations that were turned over to Seoul before 2003 as part of the relocation of US troops and bases.
South Korean officials, military staff and civilian experts will visit Camp Mercer on Tuesday to check soil and underground water, a spokesman said. -- AFP
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