The Defense Ministry says it will assemble a team to investigate suspicions that chemicals were buried at former U.S. military base Camp Mercer in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province in the early 1960s.

The team will comprise officials from the Defense Ministry, Environment Ministry, local governments and environmental groups. A Defense Ministry official said the probe would begin on an area where toxic chemicals are believed to have been buried.

The Defense Ministry conducted a preliminary on-site inspection Wednesday morning of the 20-by-20 meter area in question. It has also requested that U.S. authorities provide a map showing the layout of Camp Mercer at the time of the alleged burial.

Ray Bows, who served for the 44th Engineer Construction Battalion at the camp in from July 1963 to April 1964, made the burial claim on the Web site “Korean War Project” on May 24th, 2004. Bows said they dug a pit with a bulldozer and dumped massive amounts of chemicals into the ground.