South Korea’s highest court on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s decision to rule that the central government was responsible for cleaning up provincial government land that had been contaminated by U.S. Forces Korea from 1957 to 2007.

The land, 73,243 square meters in size, is located in Paju, a border city between the two Koreas near the demilitarized zone in Gyeonggi Province.

The central government put the land under the control of the USFK in 1957. U.S. infantrymen were stationed on the plot of land in Paju until it was returned to Korea in 2007.

The land was polluted with toxic substances including heavy metals and oil as a result of the dumping by the USFK. The Defense Ministry returned the polluted land to Gyeonggi Province in 2008.

The Gyeonggi provincial government demanded that the central government remove the harmful substances and restore the land, citing related regulations.

When its demand was rejected, Gyeonggi Province filed a lawsuit in 2009, claiming that the central government should clean up the land.

“It is unfair for the provincial government to be responsible for the cost of rehabilitating the land (after it was returned to them), as the pollution of the property was an unexpected event,” the top court said in its ruling.

The Supreme Court said the state has to restore the land that is polluted beyond legal limit, limiting its responsibility for the cleanup. The latest ruling is less sweeping than the previous one.

The lower court had ordered the state to fully rehabilitate the polluted land and remove all the underground facilities set up by U.S. forces.

Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education were planning to develop the property as an educational site, but could not proceed because of the severe pollution.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)