{"id":29962,"date":"2026-08-06T15:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29962"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:24:22","slug":"no-white-phosphorus-leak-at-us-air-base-in-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29962","title":{"rendered":"No white phosphorus leak at US air base in South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">SEOUL, South Korea &#8212; <\/span>The U.S. military said Thursday its investigations confirmed there were no white phosphorus leak at one of its air bases in South Korea, days after local authorities urged <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/south-korea-us-air-base-white-phosphorus-33085a09c2a1b06e7dd310250a4ef72f\">residents to evacuate<\/a> over concerns about a suspected leak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">On July 28, the Pyeongtaek city government sent text messages advising its residents to move to safe places and avoid skin exposure, saying white phosphorus was leaked at the Osan Air Base in the city, which is just south of Seoul, the capital. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-lebanon-human-rights-watch-white-phosphorus-616984b69e1cbe1efc5bbee4cb3ba8ae\">White phosphorus<\/a> is a controversial chemical substance used in incendiary munitions and smoke shells. When ignited, it burns at extremely high temperatures and can set buildings ablaze and burn human flesh to the bone. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">City officials said they lifted the evacuation alert later in the day after being informed that the U.S. military finished decontamination work. They said their earlier text messages were issued following consultations with the U.S. military and South Korean police and emergency offices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The U.S. military said in a statement Thursday it has confirmed the crystallization and residue identified during a routine munitions inspection on the day was not white phosphorus nor contained traces of the substance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It said that follow-up analysis concluded that the residue was non-hazardous surface corrosion resulting from environmental exposure over time. It said no injuries happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe appreciate the city\u2019s close partnership in keeping our community safe, and we thank everyone for their patience as our team worked to resolve this situation,\u201d Col. Ryan Ley, commander of the 51st Fighter Wing, said, according to the statement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The United States deploys about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggressions from North Korea. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The U.S. military presence, along with crimes involving U.S. service members and U.S. role in South Korea&#8217;s tumultuous modern history, has been a source of anti-American sentiments among many in South Korea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Earlier this week, eight South Korean <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/south-korea-us-military-students-detained-87e996c2f3a10f696911bf6204668a5b\">students were detained<\/a> for allegedly breaking into the Osan base while shouting anti-U.S. slogans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SEOUL, South Korea &#8212; The U.S. military said Thursday its investigations confirmed there were no white phosphorus leak at one of its air bases in South Korea, days after local authorities urged residents to evacuate over concerns about a suspected leak. On July 28, the Pyeongtaek city government sent text messages advising its residents to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/2cc24201-6cb1-4493-825d-2d86f981a10b\/wirestory_04e38a6139a8454cf98876cbd596c837_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}