(17 Nov 1999) English/Nat
Pentagon officials say the U-S helped South Korea use chemicals, including the toxic Agent Orange, along the border with communist North Korea three decades ago.
A report on South Korean television says thousands of South Korean soldiers may have been mobilised to spray Agent Orange.
U-S officials reacted on Tuesday to accounts of former South Korean army officers, appearing recently on South Korean television.
The Koreans say their men were mobilised in 1968 to spray chemical defoliants along the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea.
A Pentagon spokesman said the chemicals were used, as in the Vietnam War, to clear vegetation.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It was done as an effective means of thinning the vegetation and foliage along the demilitarised zone. It was part of an ongoing clearing effort along the demilitarised zone to provide better visibility for any movement south by North Koreans."
SUPER CAPTION: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, U.S. Defence Department spokesman
Korean veterans say they didn't know they were spraying toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange.
Documents obtained by South Korean T-V service S-B-S show that the U-S military, with approval from the Pentagon, supplied Agent Orange and two other chemicals to South Korean forces.
The U-S government has never said it used Agent Orange in South Korea.
But the Pentagon says South Korean officials at the time were aware of its use.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There's nothing that's classified about this whole application. We've tried to have been very open about that if you see the use of Agent Orange and other defoliants during the Vietnam War."
SUPER CAPTION: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, US Defence Department spokesman
South Korea's Defence Minister is ordering an inquiry into the matter.
Thousands of South Koreans who fought with U-S soldiers in Vietnam are already seeking compensation from the U-S government for exposure to Agent Orange.
They've been waging a legal battle in the United States since 1994 and are seeking one billion (b) dollars in compensation.
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