美军调查向韩国倾倒有毒橙剂报告

The U.S. Army says it is looking into a report that drums of the Vietnam War-era toxic defoliant Agent Orange were buried at an American military facility in South Korea 33 years ago.A U.S. Army spokesman told VOA on Thursday that the Army is reviewing historical records to try to verify the report. It is also consulting environmental experts to learn how the dangerous material should be handled.

South Korea's Environment Ministry said Thursday it will ask U.S. officials to determine whether the chemical was dumped in 1978 at Camp Carroll, near Daegu, in the southeastern part of the country.Reports of the dumping first appeared last week on a television station in Phoenix, in the U.S. state of Arizona ((KPHO)).Three U.S. Army veterans told the station they had been ordered to dig a ditch, nearly the length of a city block, to bury about 250 bright yellow or orange drums, each believed to contain 208 liters of the defoliant. They said the chemical was seeping through the barrels and gave off a "sickly sweet" smell.