US compensation claims surge over chemical dumping in Korea

By Lee Tae-hoon

An increasing number of former U.S. soldiers stationed in Korea are filing compensation claims amid growing suspicions that the U.S. Army was involved in the spraying and burial of hazardous chemicals here.

This is largely attributed to Washington’s recent acknowledgement that even more veterans were exposed to Agent Orange or other toxic herbicides while serving in or near Korea’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced in January that it will presume soldiers in or near the border region were exposed to the defoliant if their service period was between April 1 1968 and Aug. 31 1971.

The cutoff date was previously July 1969.

According to data The Korea Times obtained from the VA, the number of appeal decisions it made on Korea-related disability compensation in 2011 reached 3,937 as of Friday.

The figure for the five-month period is nearly twice as high compared to the annual total recorded in 2010, which was 2,163. The number of the decisions marked 1,072 in 2008 and 1,320 in 2009.

The VA and the Pentagon estimate that about 30,000 U.S. soldiers who served in Korea during the three-and-half years would be eligible for benefits.

But as fresh allegations have recently surfaced over the improper handling of chemical substances here outside the time frame, observers say the Agent Orange issue could prove a nightmare for the U.S. government in terms of compensation claims.

In a message posted on May 12 at ROK Drop, a military web blog, Carla Busby says she is considering seeking compensation from the U.S. government for her late husband’s death.

She claims her husband transported barrels of Agent Orange on trailers between 1973 and 1974, while serving as a munitions maintenance specialist at Gunsan Air Force Base.

“One of his duties was to return the trailers and wash them. He had direct contact with the Agent Orange barrels,” she argued, saying her husband passed away last month after being denied help for his illnesses.

She said he had suffered from hypertension, had four heart attacks, prostate cancer, depression, hearing loss, congestive heart disease and diverticulitis upon returning from Korea.

“In March 2011, he was diagnosed with four brain lesions, cancer of the spleen, bladder, gall bladder and thyroid,” she noted.

Bob Vivona, who served as a military policeman in Korea between 1965 and 1966, said he was also working on an appeal for diabetes in a message on the blog.

The former serviceman claims that he used to “spend the entire day just watching them spray from the 55 gal drums.”

“The drums were marked with the poison skull and cross bones as hazardous material,” he argued.

U.S. Forces Korea and the Korean military have been investigating the extent of the use of chemicals following a news report by Phoenix-based broadcaster KPHO.

KPHO broke the news early this month that former U.S. soldiers stationed at Camp Carroll in Korea were involved in burying some 250 drums of leftover Agent Orange at the camp compound in the late 1970s.

Agent Orange contains dioxin, which is notorious for causing serious health problems, including mental illness, cancer and fetal deformities to those who are exposed to it.

The U.S. military admits that it used the toxic defoliant to clear plants near the DMZ areas in the late 1960s as part of an attempt to improve its detection of North Korean infiltrations.

A Pentagon report The Korea Times obtained claims that the application of harmful herbicides in Korea began in May 1968 and ended in July.

But the document denies any U.S. military personnel involvement in its spraying, and also contradicts an Eighth U.S. Army report that states defoliation operations continued until July 1969.

“No U.S. military personnel were used to spray tactical herbicides, or were involved in any of the spraying operations, for example, the mixing of herbicides and diluents,” the report claims. “U.S. military personnel were used to monitor and report on the activities of ROK Forces.”

The VA currently recognizes 15 diseases as being caused by herbicide exposure.

주한미군 고엽제 피해신청 쇄도

미국 정부가 한국 비무장지대(DMZ) 인근 지역에 근무해 고엽제 후유증을 앓고 있는 퇴역군인들에 대한 피해보상 범위를 확대하기로 올해 1월 발표한 이후 한국과 관련 보훈 재심신청이 크게 늘어난 것으로 밝혀졌다.

미국 정부는 1968년 4월부터 1969 7월까지 DMZ 인근에 근무해 고엽제 후유증을 앓고 있는 제대군인들에 대한 피해보상 범위를 올해 2월부터 1971년 8월 31일까지 근무한 제대군인으로 확대했다.

그 전에는 1968년 4월부터 1969년 7월 복무자만 오염에 노출된 것으로 간주 했었다.

미 보훈부에 의하면 한국과 관련된 재심결정이 5월 27일 현재 올해 들어서만 3937건으로, 지난 해 2163건 보다 도 높다. 2008년, 2009년 보훈 재심결정은 1072건, 1320건이었다.

일각에서는 최근 1960년 대 말 이후에도 미군이 고엽제 대량 살포 또는 매몰에 참여 했다는 의혹이 제기되 미국 퇴역군인들의 보상 청구가 작년 대비 5배 이상 늘어 날 것으로 전망하고 있다.

그 동안 미국 정부는 1960년대 말에만 고엽제를 살포했다며 1970년 이후 근무자들의 고엽제 증상에 대해서는 보상을 거부해 왔다.

지난 4월 고엽제 관련 질환으로 남편을 잃은 캐롤린 버즈비씨는 고엽제 피해신청을 조만 간 미 정부에 다시 신청할 예정이다.

그녀는 지난 12일 ROK Drop이라는 블로그에 올린 글에서 남편이 1973년에서 74년 군산 미공군기지에서 복무하는 동안 탄약정비관으로 복무하며 고엽제 '에이전트 오렌지’ 드럼통을 세척하는 임무를 맡았다고 주장하고 있다.

그녀의 남편의 한국에서 복무 후 각종 고엽제 관련 암과 심장질환 등에 시달려 왔으나 미 정부가 1970년대 이후에는 고엽제를 전혀 사용하지 않았다 부인해 고엽제 관련 보상을 전혀 받지 못했었다.

한국정부의 제대군인 고엽제 보상범위는 1967년 10월 9일부터 1970년 7월 31일 사이로 규정돼 있다.