Koon-ni demonstrators plan rally to protest Air Force gunnery range
By Jim Lea, Osan bureau chief
Maehyang-ri villagers plan to hold demonstrations in Seoul this week
to protest the U.S. Air Force’s Koon-ni gunnery range.
Villagers think the range should be included on a list of bases to be
closed under a new land-use plan being worked out by the U.S. and South Korean
governments.
Residents “are very angry because the range is not included in
the bases to be closed,” said Chun Man-kyu, leader of the Koon-ni protest group.
“We will hold rallies at the U.S. Embassy and the Seoul office of Lockheed-Martin on
Thursday.”
The Air Force contracts with Lockheed-Martin to operate the range.
Maehyang-ri is a collection of five villages that surround the range
about 25 miles northwest of Osan Air Base.
For years, villagers have demanded the facility be closed, claiming
operations at the range have caused injury to residents and damaged their homes.
The range was opened in 1952 when the area was only sparsely
populated. About 3,000 people live in the area now.
The controversy over the facility was renewed last year when an A-10
jet fighter from Osan en route to a live-bomb training mission at another range was forced
to jettison six 500-pound bombs at a target island at Koon-ni when his plane developed
engine trouble.
Maehyang-ri villagers claimed the bomb explosions caused damage to
more than 100 homes and injuries to several people.
Separate investigations by U.S. Forces Korea, the South Korean
Defense Ministry and a commercial firm hired by the villagers all determined the
explosions were too far away from populated areas to cause damage.
The investigations also determined that there was no pilot error
involved and the pilot took proper action by dropping his bombs at Koon-ni.
Chun was arrested shortly after for trespassing on the range and
causing property damage when he tore down warning flags and portions of a surrounding
fence.
He was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison. However, an
appeals court said that although his actions were improper, they served to elevate the
controversy to the national level and overturned that sentence.
A number of large demonstrations were held at the range last year
with many activist students and other anti-American groups joining the villagers. Some of
those protests included violent clashes between demonstrators and Korean riot police.
Last August, the Air Force agreed to not hold strafe training at the
range but said bomb training would continue. The bombs used are concrete-filled dummies
that do not explode.
Bae Gi-chul contributed to this report.
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