from a leaflet of GREEN KOREA UNITED

Maehyang-ri

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.

GREEN KOREA UNITED http://www.greenkorea.org/
KOREAN COMMITTEE for US Military Bases Return

Location

The U.S. Air Force's Koon-ni 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 square-meters of sea and land area, and is the largest US Air Force bombing training site in Asia. More then 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 experienceng engine touble, dropped six 500 pounds 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 resident fleeing their homes. But the residents say that this is only a small accident compared to all the mis-bombings of the past 50 years.

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 tyo 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 5.37mg/kg of arecenic, 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 then average, copper (6.21mg/kg) was 13 times higher, and lead (845mg/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 135 points, much higher than 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 suffering from severe stress. 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) consideres 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 risk of the bomber training.

yeardeathinjurydamage
195212a resident was hit by a bomb on the head and was killed on the spot. The other residents' wrists were cut by a bomb.
195641four children were killed by a dud and one child's ankle was badly wounded
19601 a resident was killed by a dud
19611 a resident was killed by a dud
19622 strangerswere killed by splinters of a shell when they watched the bomb training
1963 1a resident was wounded on the side by a broken piece of training bomb
196512a resident was killed by a machine gunshot to the head and the other was wounded in the side by a training bomb
1966 1a resident's thumb was cut by a dud
1973 1a resident was wounded on the side by a dud
19761a resident, 9 months pregnant, was killed by a bomb. (Her husband was then hired as an employee at the training range by the U.S. military)
1989 1a resident's ankle was seriously wounded by a machine gunshot from a helicopter. This was the first compensation won by the villagers' lawyer.
1995 hundreds of roofs collapsed and / or were cracked in the account of explosions.
1996 1an 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 oysteres from the sea.
As a result, they can hardly make a living by the indirect damages of the bombing.

Stop bombing at Maehyang-ri!
Revise the unfair Status of Forces Agreement!

Now Maehyan-ri residents are fighting hard to stop the bombing. Chun Man-gu, the leader of the Residents Committee was put in jain for demonstrating against the bombing training. In anger, he tore down the red warning flag the US flys when bombing. We urge th 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 minutes, 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

GREEN KOREA UNITED http://www.greenkorea.org/

605 The Korean Ecumenical Building, 136-56, Younji-Dong, Jongro-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel:82-2-747-8500 Fax:82-2-766-4180 Email:environ@chollian.net