Tweet

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

3 Sep, 11 tweets, 6 min read

🧵US military pollution in Korea

The US military is poisoning Korea’s air, land, and water—and South Korea is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the mess.

Here's an overview of the US military's environmental destruction, focusing on four former base sites.

Over 70+ years the US military has ruined 10,000s of acres of Korean land. 28,500 troops occupy Korea today.

In 2004 the US began to "consolidate" its forces, closing some bases & expanding others. This relocation revealed the extent of environmental damage in many former bases.

By 2016, dangerously high levels of heavy metals, pesticides, and other carcinogens were found at 22 out of 23 former bases.

Despite treaty agreements to "remedy contamination caused by United States Forces in Korea," the US refuses to pay for the est. $500 million clean-up.

Here's a closer look at four former base sites, all in or near populous Korean cities. Toxic chemicals at up to 1000x the ROK safety level have been found at these sites.

Camp Page, Chuncheon (200K)
Camp Carroll, Daegu (2M)
Camp Hialeah, Busan (3M)
Yongsan Garrison, Seoul (10M)

The US calls its base closures "land returns." Most of this "returned" land is dangerously toxic. At the same time, the US conducts new land grabs.

Since 2004, the US has seized 2000+ acres near Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek. Here are photos from the Pyeongtaek land struggle.

The ROK doesn't just for the US's environmental damage, or its relocations, closures, and expansions of bases. In 2010, the ROK also covered 40% of USFK's operating costs. That amount has increased as new payment deals were made by Presidents Trump and Biden.

The US military is the world's #1 polluter, poisoning and irradiating the air, ground, and water of countless peoples throughout the globe. Its massive carbon footprint also drives climate disasters that displace and kill people in these regions every year.

Currently, there is public outcry in Okinawa because the United States Marine Corps is dumping toxic chemicals into the civilian wastewater system.

Everywhere they go, the US military attacks the people by attacking the land and water. english.ryukyushimpo.jp/2021/08/31/340…

The US military's environmental destruction is a powerful example of South Korea's neocolonial status.

The US flouts ROK laws and benefits politically & economically from Korea's occupation. Meanwhile, Koreans bear the environmental, public health, & fiscal costs.

Our people have long considered mountains, bodies of water, and forests to be sacred.

Ending US occupation is not just a question of sovereignty but also a question of protecting the land and water, our bodies, and our relationship to the living world.

Sources: elr.info/sites/default/…
heritage.org/defense/report…
kpolicy.org/post/the-u-s-m…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @nodutdol

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

@nodutdol

9 Sep

#OTD in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was founded.

The DPRK has survived 73 years of US imperialism. To understand the DPRK, we have to understand its revolutionary origins. This is the story of the revolution in northern Korea before the Korean War.

From the late 1800s, Korean revolutionaries played a pivotal role in anti-colonial resistance across Northeast Asia.

Pictured here is Kim Il Sung (3rd from left) as an officer in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in Manchuria.

After WWII, these revolutionaries returned home or emerged from hiding. In the south, they organized against the US occupation; in the north, they began building a socialist society alongside the masses.

Read 15 tweets

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

@nodutdol

31 Aug

In recent weeks, some of the biggest wins of the Candlelight Movement have been undone.

Samsung heir Lee Jae Yong has been released from prison, and a major investigation into the Sewol ferry disaster has been closed. The Moon gov't beterays the movement that put it in power.

Samsung vice chairman and heir Lee Jae Yong was accused of giving $40 million in bribes to President Park’s close associate to secure President Park’s support for a 2015 merger within Samsung. In Jan 2017, Lee was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Lee was released in Feb 2018, resentenced in 2021, and released again Aug. 13.

He was released months after the Ministry of Justice revised an internal regulation allowing prisoners to serve just 60% of their sentence before parole. Lee had completed 60% of his term by July.

Read 9 tweets

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

@nodutdol

14 Aug

The US and South Korea are proceeding with joint military exercises from Aug 16 - 26 despite protests from South Korean lawmakers and North Korea.

What are these war drills? How do they impact peace and reunification? A thread 🧵

The US and South Korea usually hold joint military exercises twice a year. These war drills can involve up to 300,000 soldiers and often rehearse invasions of North Korea—including “decapitation” exercises to assassinate the DPRK leadership.

With no way of knowing if a drill is cover for a sneak attack, North Korea is forced to put its military on high alert during US-ROK exercises.

The upcoming drill will be mostly computer simulated due to COVID, but this doesn’t make it any less threatening to the DPRK.

Read 9 tweets

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

@nodutdol

6 Aug

Thread🧵

On Aug. 6 & 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

The Korean A-Bomb Victims' Association estimates 100,000 of the 700,000 killed or injured by the bombs were Korean.

Korean A-bomb survivors are still fighting for justice. This is their story.

TW: Graphic image

In WWII, 5 - 7 million Koreans were conscripted as forced laborers throughout Japan's empire. 670,000 Koreans were sent to Japan to work in shipyards, arms factories, mines, farms, or as "comfort women."

Photo of Korean conscript workers in Hokkaido

In 1945, 80,000 Koreans lived in Hiroshima and at least 30,000 in Nagasaki. Most Hiroshima Koreans worked in war-related industries or farmed small plots after having lost their own land in Korea.

Photo of conscripted Korean workers at Hiroshima's Mitsubishi Shipyard was in 1944

Read 12 tweets

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

@nodutdol

29 Jul

The Taft-Katsura Agreement 🧵

In 1905, the US struck a deal with the Japan to recognize each other’s respective claims to Korea and the Philippines — thereby consenting to Japan’s later colonization of Korea from 1910-1945.

Pictured: Secret photocopies of the agreed memorandum.

The Taft-Katsura Agreement resulted from Japan and the US’ respective wars at the time: the Russo-Japanese War and the Spanish-American War.

US Secretary of War William Howard Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro met in secret after the Russo-Japanese War to discuss the countries' foreign policies.

Read 11 tweets

Nodutdol | 노둣돌

@nodutdol

27 Jul

#OTD in 1953, North Korea, China and the US signed the Korean War Armistice—instating ceasefire and creating the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The armistice was supposed to be temporary before peace treaty negotiations, but terms could not be agreed upon and the war continues. 🧵

Armistice negotiations first began in 1951, but took 2 years to complete as the fighting raged on.

South Korea ultimately refused to sign because President Rhee Syngman wanted to conquer the north. US bombing did not stop until 24 minutes before the ceasefire took effect.

Although the armistice called for the withdrawal of foreign troops, the US and South Korea signed the Mutual Defense Treaty just two months after the armistice. This treaty created a “legal” framework for US troops to occupy Korea indefinitely, as they continue to do to this day.