A spill fence dams a stream near Camp Mujuk, a Marine Corps base near Pohang city, South Korea, April 10, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP MUJUK, South Korea — Roughly four tons of diesel fuel from this Marine Corps base 180 miles southeast of Seoul leaked into a nearby stream last week, according to Pohang city officials and an environmental group.
The spill was first reported April 2 by city residents who complained of a smell from the Gwangmyeongcheon, a stream that flows alongside Camp Mujuk, a Pohang city official said by phone Tuesday.
South Korean officials customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity.
City investigators deduced the fuel came from Mujuk, less than a quarter-mile from the stream, and began containing it with spill fences and absorbent pads, the official said. The fuel has since been contained and is nearly all collected, the official added.
A Marine Corps Forces Korea spokesman said the command was aware of a “diesel fuel incident” but provided no further details.
“Our focus is containment and fuel recovery,” Capt. Rocco Hipolito said in an email Tuesday. “The cause of the incident is under investigation.”
Each year about 4,000 Marines pass through Mujuk, the only Marine Corps base in South Korea, for amphibious exercises, according to Marines.mil and the official Mujuk website.
Each year about 4,000 Marines pass through Camp Mujuk, the only Marine Corps base in South Korea, for amphibious exercises. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
Hipolito said the camp’s Environment and Facilities Office is monitoring the situation and working with local authorities.
In a letter to the base Tuesday, Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok said the city was “concerned about damage to local residents and environmental pollution.”
The mayor requested that the base install an oil spill berm to prevent another incident and to help remove nearby soil that may have been contaminated, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Stars and Stripes.
The Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, a non-governmental organization with 52 chapters across the country, said it estimated four tons of fuel spilled and that city workers had collected 20 tons of water mixed with fuel from the stream.
Mujuk’s leaders “should get to the bottom of the accident and make an official apology,” the organization said in a news release Tuesday.
Nearly all the absorbent pads were gone from the stream Wednesday, though spill fences remained in several areas.
Across the two-lane road next to the stream, people with hiking gear walked on a path as farmers collected garlic from their fields.
Jeon Jae-woo, the owner of a noodle shop next to the stream, said he recalled an oily smell last week.
“I was too busy with customers to investigate, but I remember seeing a rainbow-colored sheen along the water’s surface,” he said.
