Environmental concerns halt use of
heavy equipment for project in S. Korea
By Jeremy Kirk, Seoul bureau
chief
YONGSAN GARRISON — U.S. Forces Korea will stop using heavy
equipment to build a fence around Story Range, a live-fire training area.
Fence posts were being erected around Story Range, two miles south of
the Demilitarized Zone.
Korean environmentalists said the clearing was destroying a forest.
U.S. 8th Army commander, Lt. Gen. Daniel R. Zanini halted the construction after Korean
press articles reported complaints from environmentalists Thursday.
The equipment was being used to clear a 15-foot, 3-mile swath around
the range for a fence, USFK spokesman Stephen Oertwig said.
A local environmental group, Green Korea United, accused USFK of not
consulting the Korean government before building the fence posts. The group claims USFK is
violating the Status of Forces Agreement, which governs U.S. forces in South Korea.
In June, USFK and the South Korean Defense Ministry agreed to put a
fence around the range by January 2004, Oertwig said. USFK lobbied the South Korean
government to allow fencing of the entire range more quickly so no one is hurt. Unexploded
munitions and live-fire exercises made the area dangerous.
“That has been a problem for years,” said Larry Rogers,
deputy chief of training for 8th Army. “How do we establish safety to prevent people
from entering ... and walking into our live-fire training?”
But farmers wanted access to the land. USFK and South Korean defense
officials compromised, banning farming on the range after 2003.
In the meantime, USFK had begun to put up fence posts with warning
signs so farmers knew the boundaries of the dangerous part of the range. In January 2004
— after farming is stopped — USFK plans to complete the fence.
But when construction of the fence posts began Oct. 26, farmers were
afraid they were going to be shut out of the range early, Oertwig said. USFK is working
with the farmers to ensure the fence post construction does not interfere with them, he
said.
Story Range is in an area controlled by the South Korean Army. The
area has been under control since the end of the Korean War.
But some farmers have ownership claims to the land, and the South
Korean government decided in the late 1980s to accommodate some farming on the land,
including Story Range, Oertwig said. U.S. officials have worried that people might be
injured from frequenting the range.
To prevent accidents, farmers were banned last year from planting
crops in the impact area, where munitions are detonated.
USFK erected a barbed-wire fence after farmers ignored warning signs
in English and Korean to stay out of the impact area. The barbed-wire fence angered
farmers, but they continued this year to raise crops on other sections of the range.
The range is used for mortar, grenade, mine, anti-tank missile and
artillery practice. In 1996 and 1998, unexploded ordnance killed two Korean civilians who
had entered the range to look for scrap metal.
The range has been used for about 30 years. U.S. forces use Story
Range about 75 percent of the time, with South Korean soldiers using the balance.
The South Korean Army supervises farming. Farmers must have a pass to
cross any of the three bridges, guarded by South Korean soldiers, leading to the range.
Normally, range control officials and Army explosive ordnance
disposal teams would clear munitions from the impact area annually. But the impact area at
Story Range is swampy, and teams can only look for duds on the surface.
Additionally, the entire area just south of the DMZ is rife with
mines. Many are newer mines laid by the South Korean Army as part of the DMZ defense.
But there are unmarked mine fields, and monsoon rains shift mines
around. Korean contractors and 8th Army personnel have uncovered about 30 mines while
putting in fence posts.
USFK is going to continue marking the range with fence posts while
addressing farmers’ concerns, Oertwig said.
“We’re not going to go in there and rip the land up,”
Oertwig said. “We’re going to be very careful of how we even mark the
area.”
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