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A Brief history

The first recorded action by the Maehyang-ri villagers to draw attention on their plight took place on July 4, 1988 (coinciding with the American independence day and the anniversary of a historic joint communiqu?by south and north Korea in 1972). 612 villagers, led by Chon Mahn-kyu -- a name that has been constantly associated with the struggle of Maehyang-ri people reemerging again in May 2000 -- signed and presented a petition to the Ministry of Defense.

This was to be the start of more than 10 official petitions to the Korean government and the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea and the deepening frustration of the village people and their own direct understanding of the nature of the U.S. in Korea.

The Ministry responded about three weeks later urging the villages to wait patiently as it would approach the U.S. Armed Forces to eliminate damages by noise. Four months later, in November, the U.S. Armed Forces officially acknowledge that there has been damage resulting from noise at the Kooni Range following its own investigation. At the time, the investigators found that the noise level reached, at the worst, 150 dB.

On December 12, four months after the presentation of their petition, the villagers, angered by the lack of any genuine response from either the Korean or the U.S. Armed Forces authorities to their complaint and demands, "trespassed" into the practice range and built an occupation camp. This was the first time a U.S. firing range facility was occupied while training was in process.

The villagers put forward three demands: move the Air Force bombing and firing practice range to an uninhabited area, prepare an official plan for the residents to move to another area, and set up a joint body involving the representatives of the villagers, the Ministry of Defense, and the 7th U.S. Air Force stationed in Korea, to produce a reparation and compensation package for the villagers.

By the end of a week of occupation, the Ministry of Defense informed the villagers that the Korean government had, in compliance with the article 3 of the SOFAR made a request to the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea to reduce the noise level, to avoid low flying bombing practice, to move the machine gun strafing training to another practice range, suspension of firing practices at night during normal sleeping hours, and to change the course of jet fighters and bombers approaching the practice range.

The villagers found the response from the Korean government unsatisfactory and intended only to placate the villagers?demands without any effort to resolve the nearly four decades of suffering.

----------------------------------------------------------------------Deceit (Korean government) and arrogance (U.S. Armed Forces in Korea)

On April 28, 1989, nearly one year after the initial petition, the Vice-Minister for Defense invited village representatives to a meeting with Ministry officials, National Assemblyman representing the electoral district which covered Maehyang-ri, and local municipal government officials. The meeting was organised to explain to the villagers what the important role the U.S. troops have in Korea.

The officials tried to make the villagers understand that such a bombing and firing practice range was needed to make sure the U.S. Air Force and its personnel were battle-ready. The Vice-Minister explained that the government was engaged in discussions with the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea to bring about a long term plan for the relocation of the practice range to another area. And that it was undertaking a consultation with the U.S. military authorities to minimise the noise level as a short-term measure. However, the Ministry of Defense asserted that it was impossible to provide any compensation for the damage by noise as there was no criteria for ascertaining the compensation and legal grounds to implement any compensation.

In November 1989, the Ministry of Defense -- when requested to provide information on its efforts on behalf of the demands of the villagers -- informed the villagers that consultation with the U.S. military authorities to reduce the noise level was continuing and that there was a principle agreement with the U.S. authorities to move the range to another area and that this would begin to take place in 1990.

In March 1990, two National Assemblymen obtained a report of the Ministry of Defense which stated that an agreement was reached between the Korean and the U.S. authorities on Many 22, 1989, to move the practice range to another area. In order to bring about the transfer, the Korean government was to secure a budget of 60 billion won from 1992 to 1996 to move the practice range to newly reclaimed land.

However, unknown to any villagers or even the concerned National Assemblymen, the "agreement" with the U.S. military authorities to relocate the practice range to another area was, in fact, abandoned and nullified due to the opposition by the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea. This fact became known only in March 2000 from an investigative report by a television network.

In October 1996, when it became known that the practice range was not moving out of Maehyang-ri -- that the Korean government's assurance to the villagers had turned out to be a lie -- 712 villagers led by Chon Mahn-kyu filed another petition with the government.

In January 1997, the Ministry of Defense released a report on the petitions it had received. According to the report, the cost of relocating the 740 households (2,700 people) to another area was cheaper (by 90 billion won) than relocating the bombing and firing range (which was estimated to be 150 billion won). As a result, the Ministry of Defense reported that it was working in the direction of preparing a package for moving the residents out of their villages.

Having learned about the thinking and plan of the Ministry of Defense through its obligatory report to the National Assembly, the villagers taskforce demanded a joint taskforce working group, involving the representatives of villagers, the Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Armed Forces, and some mediators. This demand did not produce any results as it fell on the deaf ears of the Korean government and the U.S. military authorities.

In the absence of any progress on their demands, in February 1998, 15 village representatives of the 10 villages in the vicinity of the bombing and firing range filed a legal suit for compensation.

In November 1998, the Ministry of Defense informed the villagers that it would initiate a preparation to facilitate the relocationg of villagers out of the area if the Hwasung-kun authorities came forward with a consensus position of the entire members of the villages. In response, the villagers presented a position which called for immediate relocation of 200 household from one village on the grounds of safety, and that the residents of other village withdraw the petition calling on the government to produce a relocation plan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------A new development - bomb explosion and explosion of struggle

For 13 years, the villages continued their efforts and struggles virtually on their own to find an end to their plight and solution to the problem created and perpetuated by the U.S. Air Force bombing and firing range. When the issue first arose in 1988, some civil society organisations were involved in the joint campaign. However, as the issue dragged on, the links between the villagers and advocacy groups and people뭩 organisation waned, apart from tenuous contacts maintained by a number of environmental movement groups.

In 2000, Chon Mahn-kyu, the leader of village people뭩 taskforce began to make links with other civil society movement groups to develop a common effort. The explosion 6 bombs by a U.S. Air Force plane reawakened the villagers' struggle and the attention of the society.

On June 2, Chon Mahn-kyu, the chairperson of the village people뭩 taskforce, was arrested and detained by police for tearing down the red flag in the bombing and firing range which signal that bombing and firing training session is in operation. He was charged for trespassing and violation of the law which aims to protect the U.S. military facilities in Korea. The village people뭩 action erupted as they tried to force into the range and stop the bombing and firing following the release on previous day of the official findings of the Korean government and the U.S. Air Force that there were no real damage to the village people.

----------------------------------------------------------------------Maehyang-ri struggle - a new dimension

The developments in Maehyang-ri drew the attention of the society as a whole and the various civil society movements, such as environment movement, civil rights movement, labour movement, reunification movement, and the broad coalition which was working to force a democratic amendment of the Status of Forces Agreement.

The news of the bombing accident and the subsequent arrest of the village leader brought many people and organisations rushing to Maehyang-ri to provide assistance to the villagers and to mount a joint campaign. On June 6, some 3,500 people ? villagers, environmental movement activists, civic group members, workers, and students ? gathered for a protest rally. They formed human chain in front of the firing range demanding its closure. They also demanded the government to form a neutral fact-finding committee on the incident, while urging the U.S. ambassador to Korea to visit the site.

Alarmed by the massive direct action, the Ministry of Defense issued a statement that it would produce a plan to provide compensation for the recognised damage and suffering the villagers had incurred over the last many years, still insisting that there was no real damage from the May 8 bombing accident. At the same time, the Ministry representatives made clear that no concrete plan to facilitate villagers to move to new area was in pipelines and that there was no legal grounds for the villagers to claim compensation, thus no legal responsibility on the part of the government to produce compensation.

The response of the government and the U.S. Air Force inspired a new development in the attitude and direction of the actions of the village people. The village people뭩 taskforce, which had until now been aiming to obtain a government assisted relocation of the village people to another area, committed itself to demand the closure of the bombing and firing range. This occasioned the unity of the village people and subsequently the various civil society groups which had taken up the "Maehyang-ri issue".

People뭩 action continued to gain momentum. The June 8 mass rally and direct action was followed up with more assertive one on June 17. The decision by the U.S. Air Force to resume bombing and firing at the range from June 19, after a 35-day suspension, further inflamed the anger of the people. More than 3,000 people converged on Maehyang-ri, joining the local village people, to demand and force the closure of the bombing range and a complete suspension of drills. The heavy-handed actions of the riot police which prevented the rally approaching anywhere near the range resulted in a fierce clash between the rallyists and the police, leaving dozens of people injured.

On June 19th, the day the U.S. Air Force intended to resume bombing on the range, another rally was organised with an aim to occupy the range to physically prevent the bombing runs. The continuing intransigence of the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea and the resistance and inability of the Korean government to heed the demands of the people and society are giving rise to "anti-American" slogans and sentiments. The imposing status of the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea, feigning immunity from and indifference to the concerns of the people, and the image of the Korean government unable to act in a sovereign manner on the basis of the demands of the people but intent on defending the 몉ight?and interest of the U.S. Armed Forces over and above the anguished petitions of the village people became the fertile source of 멲nti-Americanism? It became a concrete example of how the sovereignty of the nation, the wishes of the people, and the ability of the government have been circumscribed by the existing arrangement that frame the "status" of not only the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea, but the entire U.S. presence in Korea.

The continued actions by the villagers and thousands of people mobilized by civil society organisations, environment movement, trade unions, students, human rights groups and the continued inaction by the Korean government and the continued bombing by the U.S. Air Force, led to the creation of a new broad coalition.

On June 22, the representatives of village people뭩 taskforce and more than 20 major representative organisations of the civil society from all sectors held a meeting to set the direction and framework of the campaign. At the meeting, the groups unanimously agreed to ask the Maehyang-ri People뭩 Taskforce, the People뭩 Action for Reform of Unjust ROK-U.S. SOFA Agreement (a broad coalition of civil society organisations), and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to convene a meeting to formally launch a new coalition. As a result, on June 30, the "National Action Committee for the Closure of the Maehyang-ri U.S. Armed Forces International Bombing Range" -- bringing together more than 60 social organisations -- was launched.