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The South Korean Defense Ministry and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) agreed yesterday to form a joint task force to probe reported civilian injuries and property damage from bombs dropped by a U.S. fighter early last week at a training range in Hwasong County, Kyonggi Province, the Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said the joint probe team would be composed of a total of 14 military officials.

The ministry said USFK agreed to suspend its bombing and strafing training at the U.S. Air Force Koon-ni Range for one week pending the outcome of the investigation.

In announcing government steps to solve damage problems related to the U.S. training range, the ministry said it would push ahead with plans to relocate residents living near the training range who agree to move.

"Considering the increasing need for joint South Korea-U.S. training, the use and maintenance of the Koon-ni Range is inevitable and we will actively push a relocation plan for residents there," said Army Maj. Gen. Lee Kwang-kil, director of the ministry's logistics bureau.

Lee said in a press conference at the ministry's briefing room that the Koon-ni Range is the nation's only U.S. Air Force bombing and strafing range. It was set up in 1955 after consultations between South Korea and the U.S.

The training range covers a 7.19-million pyong (23.73 sq. meter) sea and land area, with one bombing range on Nong Island and one firing range on the coast of Maehyang-ri in Hwasong County.

"We will push ahead with our relocation plan as soon as the Maehyang villagers reach a consensus," Lee said, adding that the relocation plan would cost some 65 billion won ($58.6 million). The move would involve 238 households in two districts in Maehyang which are 2.4 km away from the bombing range and 1.2 km away from the strafing range.

"If the villagers accept the plan, we will reflect the cost in next year's defense budget," Lee said.

Maehyang villagers claimed that seven people were injured and some 170 houses damaged when a U.S. Air Force A-10 fighter, which was experiencing engine trouble, dropped six 220 kg (500-pound) bombs at the training range on May 8 as an emergency measure to reduce its weight.

Citing noise problems, members of some 2,000 households in Maehyang-ri and other nearby villages have sought to be relocated since 1988, while also seeking compensation for suffering related to the bombing and strafing training. They filed a class action suit with a Seoul court in February 1998.

On the formation of the 14-member joint investigation team, Lee said three USFK military personnel would participate in the task force, along with five South Korean Defense Ministry officials and a representative of Maehyang-ri village.

"We will complete the formation of the task force today and conduct a three-day on-site investigation of the reported bombing damage starting tomorrow," Lee said, adding that the team is scheduled to announce the results of its investigation next Wednesday.

The team will be jointly headed by Lee and Maj. Gen. Michael Dunn, deputy chief of staff of USFK.

"The joint investigation should lead to an exact assessment of the damage from the recent emergency bombing, at which time we will decide on the scope of the compensation for the villagers," Lee said.

On suspicions that depleted uranium bullets were being used at the Koon-ni Range, Dunn said at the briefing session that the U.S. Air Force doesn't possess or use such bullets at the range.

Dunn said the bombs dropped by its A-10 fighter last week were MK-82 bombs, weighing 220 kg or 500 pounds.

He was responding to claims from a local resident that U.S. fighters might have used depleted uranium bullets at the Koon-ni Range.

Chon Man-kyu, head of a committee of Maehyang-ri residents addressing the bombing incident, said a member of a world peace organization, Bryon Wilson, called on him Monday to advise residents not to touch the bullets scattered in the shooting range for fear of radioactive contamination.

Wilson, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, said the U.S. military might have used depleted uranium bullets in the range, according to Chon.