Thursday, April 19, 2001

By Jim Lea, Osan bureau chief

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Fourteen residents of villages that surround the U.S. Air Force’s Koon-ni bombing range will share a $100,000 compensation settlement.

In a precedent-setting case, a South Korean court has ordered the Korean government to pay the residents for noise pollution caused by training at the range.

The ruling by the Seoul District Court closed a suit filed in 1998 by residents of Maehyang-ri, a collection of five sub-villages near the range. A court official, speaking anonymously, said it was the first time compensation has been ordered for people living near a U.S. military training facility.

The decision was expected to result in similar suits being filed. It also may influence a $16.6 million suit filed last year by Maehyang-ri villagers in Suwon.

In his ruling, Judge Chang Jun-hyon said a court-ordered, six-month-long survey conducted last year showed that noise levels caused by training at the range averaged 70 decibels, the court official said. Noise levels of more than 50 decibels can result in hearing loss, the official quoted Chang as saying in his ruling.

Village residents were happy with the decision, but not with the amount of compensation.

"Considering the decades of pain and inconvenience we have suffered, the amount (of compensation) is not enough," said Chun Man-kyu, leader of a residents’ group that wants the range closed. "But the ruling shows that if your cause is right, justice prevails."

The range was established in the early 1950s when there were only a few farmers living in the area. About 700 families live in the village now. They have been demanding the range be closed for more than 20 years, frequently resorting to violence.

Protests against the range rose to a fever pitch last year after an Osan-based A-10 jet pilot was forced to drop six live 500-ton bombs on a target island about a mile from the village after his plane developed engine trouble. Villagers claimed the bomb explosions damaged 170 buildings and injured five people.

Investigations conducted by the South Korean Defense Ministry, U.S. Forces Korea and a private firm contracted by the villagers determined that there was no pilot error and no damage or injuries resulted from the bomb drop. But villagers supported by a number of anti-American groups and radical students staged a number of major demonstrations at the range, some of which became violent.

Training at the range was halted for more than two months, and U.S. Air Force officials said the lack of training was having an effect on mission readiness.

The Defense Ministry has said repeatedly that the range cannot be closed because training conducted there is vital to the defense of the country.

Whether or not the U.S. government will be required to pay any part of the compensation was not clear. The South Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement says that if the U.S. government alone is responsible for damages, it will pay 75 percent of any compensation and the Korean government will pay 25 percent. If both governments are responsible, payment will be divided equally.

But the SOFA also stipulates that the Korean government will provide facilities and areas for U.S. government use and will protect the U.S. government harmless from any third party claims.

Similar compensation suits are all but certain to be filed by residents of Korean communities near U.S. bases.

A spokesman for Green Korea United, an environmental group that has been in the forefront of the Koon-ni range protests, said a coalition of 24 civic groups is being formed to assist in filing such suits.

"We will first conduct a fact-finging survey in areas where U.S. bases are located," the spokesman said. "The results will be used as the basis for future suits involving all forms of environmental pollution."

Bae Gi-chul contributed to this report.

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