SEOUL– South Korea has handed over some 1.1 million rounds of potentially hazardous ammunition stored here for decades to the U.S. military for shipment to the United States, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.
The country’s Air Force recently sent the depleted uranium ammunition to the U.S. 7th Air Force based in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, to ship them to the U.S. by sea by mid-April, according to Democratic Party Rep. Kim Jin-pyo.
Under a 1975 arrangement with the U.S., the South had stored the ammunition in a military airport in Suwon, just south of Seoul. The arrangement had long been plagued by public concerns about its potential radiation risks.
It remains unknown how that arrangement was brought about.
The ammunition is known to have been created to mount on A-10 anti-tank aircraft.
The shipment came amid growing concerns that the weapons could potentially impact people’s health. Used in the Gulf War in 1991, the ammunition is known to cause cancer, leukemia and other diseases.
Source: Yonhap News Agency