🧵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. US-ROK naval exercise. Small cruisers are seen on the water'
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. A large army excavator dumps dirt from a mound into an army
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. Four ROK environmental surveyors in sunhats and orange safetThe inspectors circle around one man who is holding a machin
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) Camp Page: Chuncheon  Caption: In a city of 200,000 people, Camp Carroll: Daegu  Caption: In 1978, 250 drums of Agent OrCamp Hialeah: Busan  Caption: The full findings of the ROK eYongsan Garrison: Seoul  Caption: In 2001, an oil leak was f
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. A woman holds a sign in english that says "Return!! FarA mob of riot police cower behind their shields as a group oA large crowd of riot police stand with their shields up as
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. Image description: Two US soldiers in uniform walk in front
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. Image descriptoin: a map of the world with a red dot for eve
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. A crowd of protestors waving flags at a gated entrance to Yo
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. Image description: A sacred village tree with a stream of pa

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More from @nodutdol

9 Sep
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Pictured here is Kim Il Sung (3rd from left) as an officer in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in Manchuria. 10 soldiers stand and sit in 3 rows, some of them with rifle
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.
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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. Image description: Four tanks roll forward on a dirt road, t
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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. mage description: Side by side black and white photographs o
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 10 shirtless Korean men wearing just underwear stand in two
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 Image description:  Three rows of dozens of Korean forced la
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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.
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#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. 🧵 Black and white photo of delegates of both sides signing the
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. Black and white photograph of colonel-level discussions betw
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. On August 8, 1953, Foreign Minister Byeon Yeong-tae and US S
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