S Korea, U.S. to collect groundwater samples over alleged burial of Agent Orange

South Korea and the United States are set to initiate a joint investigation on Friday, which involves collecting groundwater samples near a U.S. army base in South Korea suspected to be a burial site of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.

Experts from the Ministry of Environment in South Korea plan to collect groundwater samples on Friday afternoon at 10 locations near Camp Carroll in Chilgok, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in the presence of U.S. officials, local media reported.

Seoul's Yonhap news agency quoted a ministry official as saying that it would take more than two weeks for analysis results of the groundwater samples to come out.

The investigation comes after three U.S. Army veterans revealed last week that they helped bury drums of Agent Orange at Camp Carroll in 1978.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Eighth Army in South Korea said a 1992 study showed that a "large amount" of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals were buried at Camp Carroll in 1978 but were removed during the following two years, along with 40 to 60 tons of soil. It did not know if Agent Orange was among the chemicals.

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