Chinese Children Wounded by Chemical Weapon

Two children were injured last week while playing with abandoned World War II-era Japanese chemical weapons in the city of Dunhua in northeastern China, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 18).

Nine-year-old Liu Hao suffered blisters to his hands and legs after prying one armament open and releasing a searing orange liquid, according to the China Daily. Another boy suffered less serious injuries, the newspaper reported yesterday.

Chemical weapons abandoned after World War II have injured about 2,000 Chinese people; China has complained that Japan has been slow in destroying the munitions. Of the estimated 2 million chemical weapons buried or abandoned by retreating Japanese troops in 1945, up to 670,000 were dumped in and around Dunhua alone, according to the China Daily.

China was urgently contacting the Japanese Embassy in Beijing to negotiate the matter, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 28).

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