As the site of Yongsan Park, where the US military base is located, is about to open on a trial basis from the 10th, some areas are known to be contaminated, causing controversy over their toxicity.



SBS obtained a report on the results of an environmental survey on the rest of the site, and found that both the soil and water were severely contaminated.



The site to be opened for trial is divided into six zones. Among them, following A1 and A4b/A4f, where pollution conditions were previously revealed, SBS obtained an environmental survey report for the remaining four zones: A4c, A4d, A4e, and A4a.



All four of these sites were officially returned from the US military last month.



As a result of the Ministry of Environment conducted an environmental pollution level survey through the Environment Corporation for these four sites, TPH (total hydrocarbons), a representative toxic compound, was detected at a maximum of 28 times to as low as 9 times compared to the standard value (500 mg/kg).



The area where the 28-fold was detected is the A4e area used as a hospital site near the baseball field.



TPH was detected at 24 times the standard value in the A4c area and 23 times in the A4a area.



In addition, substances of concern for soil contamination, such as xylene, arsenic, copper, and lead, were detected exceeding the standard in all four sites.



In the case of water pollution, the TPH concentration of groundwater at the A4e site was found to be 293.2 mg/L, which was 1,954 times the standard value.



As the results of the environmental survey of these four sites were confirmed, the actual condition of environmental pollution in all six sites in contact with the pilot open site of Yongsan Park was revealed.



All six sites were found to have exceeded the soil and water pollution standards.



In addition, most of the places also exceeded the allowable level for carcinogenic risk.



According to the results of the cancer risk, the risk of causing cancer to residents or workers when the site is used as a residential or commercial and industrial area exceeds the allowable level.



(Photo = Yonhap News)