November 18, 2023

It is time to recognize Korean DMZ Veterans as a separate category rather than being a subset of their Vietnam contemporaries. Exposure to harmful herbicides is an example.

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Five years ago in 2019, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced S.576, the Fairness for Korean DMZ Veterans Act, as an attempt to expand the presumptive dates of herbicide exposure and its dioxins (TCDD) for veterans who served in and along the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The bill had bipartisan support and was endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

As the legislative process proceeded, the Fairness for Korean DMZ Veterans Act was rolled under the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019. The outcome for Korean DMZ veterans was the expansion of presumptive exposure from April 1, 1968, through August 31, 1971, to starting September 1, 1967, an extension of seven months.

The Vietnam War overshadowed operations on the Korean DMZ. Few Americans realize that conflict was occurring in and along the Korean DMZ during this same period, referred to as the “second Korean War.”

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During the Vietnam War, Agent Orange was diluted to a 9% solution (10 parts Diesel fuel to 1 part Agent Orange) and delivered through the aerial application as an aerosol spray on thick vegetation, including triple canopy jungle. Most of the herbicide mixture (70-90%) landed on the foliage and was subject to degradation through the photochemical process caused by sunlight. Only 1-6% of the 9% solution reached the ground. A Vietnam veteran’s most typical contact with the herbicide was dermal, through droplet contact with the skin.

This information comes from Dr. Alvin L. Young’s work centered on the research and testing of Agent Orange at Eglin Air Force Base in late 1971. Dr. Young’s resulting book, The History, Use, Disposition, and Environmental Fate of Agent Orange, published in 2009, pertains mainly to Vietnam veterans. Dr. Young transferred most of his conclusions to the Korean DMZ. The four main elements his work centers on are:

  • Forest canopy and leaf area index
  • Photochemical degradation of TCDD (Dioxin)
  • Penetration to soil
  • Skin absorption.

Soldiers directly involved with herbicide operations along the Korean DMZ wrote the book Last Three Soldiers Standing: Defoliation of the Korean DMZ. In it, they describe the use of Agent Orange. Unlike the 9% solution sprayed from the air in Vietnam, it was at a 100% concentration, sprayed directly from vehicles carrying tanks of the material on grasses and shrubs along the Korean DMZ. The solution, ten times as powerful as that used in Vietnam, was quickly absorbed into the ground, negating most photochemical degradation caused by sunlight. According to testimony in one veteran’s VA appeals case, Dr. Mary-Ellen Taplin, M.D., a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, stated that studies show estimates of the half-life in subsurface soil may range from 25 to 100 years.

Full-strength Agent Orange saturated the soil. These contaminated soils were subjected to excessive erosion, redeposition, and subsequent burial during monsoon rains. As the authors state: “The erosion of Agent Orange treated soils was so severe, that land mines would float out of the soil, be transported several tens of yards away downslope from their original locations, creating a hazard to patrols and work parties after every wet season.”

In contrast to dermal contact by Vietnam veterans, Korean DMZ veterans’ exposure years after the spraying was through inhalation and ingestion. Infantry soldiers tend to get dirty during patrol and other field duties while risking their lives in the Korean DMZ. They breathe and eat the dust, MREs, or drink from a dust-covered canteen. These physical tasks may be riding in an open vehicle during the summer on dusty roads, on patrol on a wet, muddy trail, digging fighting positions, or other subsurface soil disturbance.

One of the authors, former Lieutenant David K, Rogers, opines that throughout the Korean DMZ where Agent Orange and Agent Blue were applied, both dioxins and arsenic are present in toxic concentrations in some locations to a depth of three to five feet, well deep enough to delay the half-life, yet still a potential threat to soldiers serving long after August 31, 1971.