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- US Airforce firing range in Maehyang-ni, Kyunggi Province

Written by Sungsook HAN (Anti-nuclear activist, KFEM)

There is a village named Maehyang-ni which is only 2 hour drive from Seoul. War is not yet finished in this village along the west sea which is well renowned for its mud flat though Korean war already finished 50 years ago.
From Monday to Friday, from 09:00 to 24:00 when there is night training, the firing of Rocket bomb, heavy machine gun, and laser gun continued. The Villagers in Maehyang-ni have lived their lives for more than 50 years in this range like war field. where Korean authorities and US forces regarded them as target of firing training.

On June 6, there gathered about 3,000 people from civil groups like Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, Labor Union like Democratic Union, and university students. They gathered hand in hand to protect Maehyang-ni and Nong island which is already destroyed from the firing training. The barricade was removed and wire barriers were also cut down which divided villagers from the land. Their shout with the slogans like "Stop firing", "Shut down US training range"
"Peace Maehyang-ni" soared into the sky instead of firing noise. Peace movement was begun to recover Maehyang as its originally named "village flavored with plum blossom" shutting down training range of US army.

Maehyang-ni is a South Korea territory on the administration,, but US territory in practical, and North Korean territory for fire. The training has begun in 1951 making Nong island as target which is 1.6 km away from Maehyang-ni without any restriction nor any lawful procedure during Korean War. After that, US army was stationed in this range from 1954. Nong island and the area of 3,000 feet radius and nearby 380,000 Pyung(1 Pyung=3.3m2 ) were chosen since 1968 after SOFA was affected.
The radius were extended as 8,000 feet and another seaside area are selected making total range as 5 million Pyung in 1979. In 1980, seaside range is extended as 500,000 Pyung which is lasted up to now. The irresponsibility of Korean government and inhumane firing training of US Airforce have harassed Maehyang-ni's land, ocean, and villagers.

It's not only the US air forces who use Maehyang-ni training range. There are also Okinawa air force, Thailand, Guam and other aircraft and fighter-bomber belongs to US Pacific army from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 24:00. They do firing training in a cruel way. Villagers are very vulnerable to these serious noise caused by firing training. And they can't be protected at all from the threat of accidental firing. The damages to the village which is closest from the training range and village directly below the air way are incredible. Their lives and living range like farming, fishing ground are open to the danger of accidental firing and intolerable noise directly. According to the noise test measured by US authorities, the average noise near the firing range is 90 - 110 WECPNL (noise control limit of International non-military air craft Union) and this kind of noisy area should be far from living area and there should be buffer zone with woods. The noises affect to the villagers' health. Compared with normal living area, considerable number of villagers in Maehyang-ni have the symptom of hardness of hearing. And high blood-pressure, stress, uneasiness, and fear related with noise are also very serious. Futhermore, when Korean Federation for Environmental Movement examined the soils around the firing range with the method of EPA method 3050B, the detected lead was max. 1184.828 mg/kg(ppm) and Chrome was 18.327 mg/kg which shows the serious pollution in this range. The soil contamination will contaminate human body through food chain.

Since the firing training from 1951 up to now. there have been accidental firings and explosion by unexploded shells. However, there has been no official examination nor compensation for them. According to villagers' testimony, three villagers are dead due to accidental firing, nine villagers are dead from the explosion of unexploded shells and 15 are hurt from accidental firing.

In fact, US army firing range in Maehyang-ni is the symbolic place which shows the environmental damage caused by US forces in Korea. Noise of air crafts, contamination of soils and ocean, and the reality that everything is getting worse with no control of Korean government.

United States has always said that it protects world peace and human rights. However, they have not been a protector of peace and human rights here in Maehyang-ni. We, Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, declares to all the people in the world who love ocean, land, and peace : US should stop the cruel firing training and give back Maehyang-ni to the villagers who have lived there by generations. This is to make Maehyang-ni with plum trees flavor. and to enable to hear children's laughs instead of firing noise.