Welcome to BASE21

A recent accidental dropping of bombs by a U.S. Air Force fighter in Hwasong County, Kyonggi Province, has rekindled the decades-long friction between the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and Korean residents in the western coastal region. The villagers of Maehyang-ni have long been asking for measures to reduce the noise and accidental firings from a USFK training range near their village, or for its relocation. Unfortunately, their plight thus far been largely ignored.

An A-10 U.S. Air Force fighter dropped six 500-pound bombs on the controversial training range Monday to cut its weight as an emergency measure to deal with engine trouble, according to a police report. Police said the bombs caused explosions that shattered windows and electric light bulbs in some 200 houses, and that several villagers were injured while fleeing their homes. The USFK confirmed that the fighter was one of its aircraft and was flying from its base in Songtan to another training range near Kunsan.

This incident attracts our attention because thousands of villagers in Maehyang-ni have struggled in vain for the last 15 years to get compensation for their suffering and to persuade the Korean and U.S. military authorities to suspend training at the range until appropriate measures are found to deal with their complaints. At least 13 villagers have been killed and 22 injured by accidental firing since the range opened in 1955, according to the village committee handling the issue.

The villagers also insist that they have had great difficulties breeding cattle, communicating on the telephone and receiving television signals due to noise and electronic interference from the training range. The USFK's F-16 and A-10 fighters conduct training missions for strafing and bombing at the range for 60 hours a week and on every day except on Saturdays and Sundays. The villagers contend that part of their village falls within the impact area, something both the Korean Defense Ministry and the USFK deny. But in recent years, misfired bombs have actually landed on rice paddies and on a Kia Motor factory in the village.

The villagers filed a class action suit with a Seoul court in 1998, to demand compensation for their suffering. At the first trial scheduled for later this month, they plan to ask for a total of 35 billion won, or 10 million won each for the village's 3,500 residents. It is doubtful that the court will make a decision in their favor because domestic law provides for compensation only for damages caused by noise from commercial planes.

Back in 1997, the Ministry of Defense submitted to the National Assembly a plan to build a new settlement for the villagers in order to move them to a safe area some 5 kilometers from the training range. But the plan faced strong resistance from the villagers, who were concerned that their livelihood would be endangered if they moved farther from the sea. Most of the villagers make their livings by catching crab, octopus and oyster in the sea near their village. The Korean government should have given greater consideration to these issues when it was seeking a solution to the villager's plight.

There is no doubt that we need the U.S. forces stationed here to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia. We never want conflict between the U.S. troops and Korean residents over minor issues to undermine the traditionally strong allegiance between the two countries. But at the same time, we also believe the authorities in both countries should pay more attention to the plight of local residents so that they do not suffer unnecessarily in the process of maintaining a joint front for peace and security.

It is a shame that this incident was aggravated by the insincere attitudes of both the Korean government and the USFK authorities. The concerned officers at the USFK allegedly refused to meet the villagers after the incident and continued to train while the enraged villagers were protesting. In the meantime, the Korean Defense Ministry has offered little assistance on the pretext that it has not been informed of the incident.

Even more distressing, there are many Koreans who live near other U.S. military facilities who find themselves in an environment similar to that at Maehyang-ni. The concerned authorities of the two countries should find ways to alleviate their suffering as soon as possible in order to keep the alliance as strong as ever.