Korean Committee for
US Military Bases Return

War Everyday:

South Korea's Bombing Training Site, Maehyang-ri

Maehyang-ri villagers are being killed,
being made sick, and their source of livelihood is being destroyed; it is not
an exaggeration to say that the USFK's training is more like war.

Location

The U.S. Air Force's Kooni Range is located on Nong Island, off the coast of
Maehyang-ri, Hwasong County, Kyonggi Province, a two hour trip from Seoul. For
half a century, continuous bombing training has been occuring there. It
was built in 1952 on over 24 million m^2 of sea and land area, and is the largest
US Air Force bombing training site in Asia. More than 80 % of the sea
near the village is included in the training site. USAF F-16, A-10 and
OV-10 bombing planes from Near East Asian countries, such as Japan, Thailand,
Guam, and the Philippines conduct bombing training at Maehyang-ri about 250
days a year, everyday except weekends and holidays.

A bomb hit the villagers!

At 8:30 AM on May 8, 2000, a U.S. Air Force A-10 fighter, which was experiencing
engine trouble, dropped six 500 pound bombs to reduce the aircraft's weight
on the United States Forces Korea (USFK) Koon-ni training range in Hwasong County, Kyonggi Province, damaging some 170 houses nearby and injuring seven residents fleeing their homes. But the residents say that this is only a small accident compared to all the misbombings of the past 50 years.

Year	Death	Injury	Damage
1952	1	2	a resident was hit by a bomb on the head and was killed on the spot. The other residents' wrists were cut by a bomb.
1956	4	1	four children were killed by a dud and one child's ankle was badly wounded.
1960	1	0	a resident was killed by a dud
1961	1	0	a resident was killed by a dud.
1962	2	0	strangers were killed by splinters of a shell when they watched the bomb training.
1963	0	1	a resident was wounded on the side by a broken piece of training bomb.
1965	1	2	a resident was killed by a machine gunshot to the head and the other was wounded on the side by a training bomb.
1966	0	1	a resident's thumb was cut by a dud.
1973	0	1	a resident was wounded on the side by a dud.
1976	1	0	a resident, 9 months pregnant, was killed by a bomb. (Her husband was then hired as an employee at the training range by the US military.)
1989	0	1	a resident's ankle was seriously wounded by a machine gunshot from a helicopter. This was the first compensation won by the villagers' lawyer.
1995	0	0	hundreds of roofs collapsed and / or were cracked in the account of explosions.
1996	0	1	an explosion resulted from a helicopter's misfired gunshot through the window of a resident's house.

Villagers are not allowed in the tidal flat bombing area five days out of the
week, therefore making it hard for them to catch crabs, octopus and oysters
from the sea.

As a result, they can hardly make a living by the indirect damages of the bombing.

Maehyang-ri villagers suffer from hearing loss, lead poisoning and mental
stress

There is much damage in this village due to noise, (the extent of which is 90
- 100 dB). It is the main source of villagers poverty: mentally, physically
and financially.

7.1 % of Maehyang-ri residents suffer from hearing impairment severe enough
to be classified as an "occupational disease". The noise affects
the character formation and emotional development of youth, and even affects
the animals. The residents have great difficulties breeding animals, chickens
perish and cows produce little milk.

Green Korea United discovered that 5.37 mg/kg of arsenic, 13 times the Korean
soil average was found in the bombing range. Other harmful metals which
can cause future physical or mental problems were also found. Cadmium
was found to be 37 times higher than average, copper (62.1 mg/kg) was 13 times
higher, and lead (845 mg/kg) was 145 times higher than average.

The Council of Physicians for the Humanitarian Practice of Medicine on June
4th and 5th conducted a study in Maehyang-ri, and revealed that Maehyang-ri
residents had about 1.7 times more lead in their blood than the average among
steel factory workers, who are highly susceptible to lead poisoning.

On a stress test, Maehyang-ri residents registered an average of 53.2 out of
a total of 135 points, much higher than the average 35.3 recorded by Chugok-ri
residents. Considering that healthy people register between 31.3 and 43.5
on the test, the medical council said Maehyang-ri residents were also shown
to have a greater tendency to suffer from negative emotions like anger, anxiety
and fear. Professor Chu Yong-su, who headed the study, said the results
clearly indicate that the health of Maehyang-ri residents is at high risk.

The USFK's Stance

Although residents have constantly demanded compensation for suffering and a
relocation of the training range, it's not easy to solve this problem. The
United States Forces Korea (USFK) considers the issue as a problem between the
villagers and the Korean government. The USFK even refuses to take any
responsibility for compensation by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The
USFK's position regarding the damages to residents is demonstrated in the findings
of the joint Korea-US investigative group. The group said that the incident
(dropping six 500 lb bombs) was part of normal training and that the pilot's
judgement was right. Whether the incident was "normal training"
or not, all the villagers have been and continue to be constantly exposed to
the high risks of the bomber training.

Stop bombing at Maehyang-ri!

Revise the unfair Status of Forces Agreement!

Now Maehyang-ri residents are fighting hard to stop the bombing. Chun
Man-gu, the leader of the Residents Committee was put to jail for demonstrating
against the bombing training. In anger, he tore down the red warning flag
the US flies when bombing. We urge the US Army to compensate the villagers
for fifty years of pain and suffering, to close the bombing training range,
and release Chun Man-gu immediately. Furthermore, the US Military should
revise the SOFA, which blocks compensation even though 11 people have died from
misbombing.

At the very minimum , the SOFA should include an environmental statute that
will protect Maehyang-ri, and the land and resources used for other US bases.

Please donate to support the Maehyang-ri movement.

Bank: Korea First Bank

Swift Number: KOFBKRSE

Account Number: 302-20-459947

Deposit: Green Korea United (Choi, Seung-guk)

Please urge the Korean government and USFK to stop bombing at Maehyang-ri

- Chong Wa Dae Republic of Korea, President Kim Dae-jung

Tel.: 82-2-770-0090 Fax: 82-2-770-0551

- Ministry of National Defense, Minister Cho Seong-tae

Tel.: 82-2-795-0071

- USFK Commanding General Thomas A. Schwartz

Tel.: 82-2-725-6001

- US Embassy Seoul, Republic of Korea, Ambassador Stephen W.

Bosworth

Tel.: 82-2-397-4436 Fax: 82-2-794-2889

Green Korea United (www.greenkorea.org)

605 The Korean Ecumenical Building, 136-56, Younji-Dong, Jongro-Gu, Seoul, Korea

Tel.: 82-2-747-8500 Fax: 92-2-766-4180 E-mail: environ@chollian.net

http://maehyang.jinbo.net/eng