[정치]The cost of cleaning up air pollution at the US military base remains a chore

[앵커]

Both sides agreed to return 12 US military bases, but challenges remain.

There is still a gap between the ROK and the United States on liability for environmental pollution and the burden of cleaning costs on the return base, and problems are expected in future negotiations.

Reporter Lee Seung-yoon about the report.

[기자]

The Republic of Korea and the United States, which agreed to return 12 US military bases this year after 4 last year, have made no progress on the costly responsibility of cleaning up the contamination.

[최창원 / 국무조정실 1차장 : 금번 기지 반환은 한미 양측은 작년과 마찬가지로 오염정화 책임, 주한미군이 현재 사용 중인 기지의 환경관리 강화 방안, 소파 관련 문서의 개정 가능성에 대해 지속 논의한다는 조건 하에 이뤄졌습니다.]

So far, the United States is known to have adhered to the position that no other US military bases around the world have been charged with pollution cleanup.

In particular, the emphasis is on limiting environmental pollution remedies to known, imminent, real and imminent health risks.

The United States asserts that military families have lived well on US military bases, and the United States asserts that the impact of environmental pollution clearly exists is surprising, but there is no clear standard of judgment.

As such, we have decided to pay the cost of environmental cleanup first and discuss the cleanup of pollution later, but it seems unlikely that the United States will pay the cost.

This is due to the USFK Status Agreement, SOFA Article 4, paragraph 1.

It states that the US government is not obligated to restore or reimburse restoration costs when returning the facilities and premises of the US military base.

Additionally, since the return of US military bases is directly related to the transition of wartime operational control rights, there are many variables that will affect the negotiations between the ROK and the United States since the inauguration of the administration. Biden.

In order for the government to expedite the return and relocation of the US military bases in Yongsan for the OPCON transition, it appears necessary to strategically address the issue of the SOFA review, as well as the rational distribution of the ROK defense costs and the United States.

YTN Seungyoon Lee[[email protected]]it is.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]