The found US Chemical bombs in Svay Rieng's Korki commune were confirmed by experts from the Cambodian chemical authority to be chemical weapons in the kind of Nitrogen Mustard also known as Blister Agent that causes heavy damages to human skin and lung.
"Blister agents, or vesicants, are one of the most common CW agents. These oily substances act via inhalation and contact with skin. They affect the eyes, respiratory tract, and skin, first as an irritant and then as a cell poison. As the name suggests, blister agents cause large and often life-threatening skin blisters which resemble severe burns," wrote the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPWC) on its website.
Concerning this issue, Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon, on Sunday in his speech to his ruling party CPP's supporters in Saang District, Kandal Province, said that his government already filed a complaint to the UN asking them to help Cambodia clear those US chemical bombs by providing adequate human and technical support.
The US Embassy in Phnom Penh, last week, wrote on their Facebook page stating that the US Government is taking full responsibility for the US Chemical bombs and explosive remnant of war left by the Vietnam War. To these legacies, the US Government is ready to respond to any Cambodia's request for assistance.
However, the embassy also said that they did not find any evidence yet proving that the found chemical bombs were something dangerous besides being tear gas that government around the world, including Cambodia, use to disperse protesters.
In the same way, on Wednesday, after an informal meeting between Asean defence ministers and US Defence Secretary James Mattis in the Philippines, General Tea Banh, Cambodian Defence Minister, told reporters that the US Government was working on the issue of the US chemical bombs and other explosive remnants of war of about 3 million tons left by the Vietnam War in Cambodia. But, he did not know yet how well the US Government would deal with this issue.
Following the event of the US chemical bombs in Svay Rieng Province, as of October 26, the Cambodian Ministry of Health affirmed that 89 Cambodian people living in the US chemical bombs drop zone were hospitalized. And the ministry believed they were affected by chemical bombs.
Heng Ratana, Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), last month, wrote on his Facebook page urging the US Government to fulfill their obligation following international law by providing full support to CMAC in a view to clear chemical weapons dropped by the US planes in Cambodia.
"The Kingdom of Cambodia, as a State Party of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), has an obligation to declare the presence of chemical weapons located in Cambodia's territory, as mentioning in Article III of the CWC," wrote Mr. Ratana.
The convention also requires all States Parties to destroy any chemical weapons they abandoned on the territory of other countries in the past.
"All States Parties have agreed to chemically disarm by destroying any stockpiles of chemical weapons they may hold and any facilities which produced them, as well as any chemical weapons they abandoned on the territory of other States Parties in the past," wrote OPCW on their website.
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