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SEOUL — Kunsan Air Base will lift a 50-plus-year ban on Wednesday that prohibited airmen from frequenting businesses within a three-mile radius of the base, Air Force officials said.

“We’re probably the only [U.S. base in South Korea] that has had this boundary and has had it this long,” said 8th Fighter Wing commander Col. John Dolan, who asked for a review of the restriction after assuming command of the seaside base in May. “There’s no reason to have that boundary.”

Military officials don’t know the exact date the ban started, but it was enacted about 50 years ago at the request of South Koreans who lived around the base and were concerned about the buildup of bars and human trafficking near their homes, Kunsan spokeswoman Master Sgt. Claudette Hutchinson said Tuesday.

According to the restriction, military personnel were prohibited from visiting nearly all homes and public establishments within the three-mile radius with the exception of a Baptist church, a car care center, a local bus stop outside the main gate, and the nearby commercial airport. Drivers are allowed to pass through the area while traveling to and from the base, and bicyclists and joggers can travel in the area only in the daytime.

Dolan said the ban was “more of a preventive measure” prompted by residents who were worried about stereotypical GI misbehavior. But by the late 1960s and early 1970s, the ban had turned into a force-protection measure meant to shield troops from growing radical and anti-American factions within the country, he said.

Previous commanders had considered lifting the ban, but decided against it, likely because of security concerns, Dolan said.

After he arrived at Kunsan this year, Dolan asked base force-protection and anti-terrorism experts to determine whether the restriction was relevant. They said it wasn’t, and, after consulting with Gunsan City Mayor Moon Dong-shin, Dolan decided to lift the ban.

“It really was an inconvenience, to tell you the truth, for our airmen,” he said.

Bordered on one side by the Yellow Sea, much of the area immediately around Kunsan remains farmland, though there are some apartments and restaurants in the area. The A-Town, or International Culture Ville district, is just outside the off-limits zone and its bars and restaurants are popular with U.S. troops.

Because Kunsan is considered a remote tour, its approximately 2,800 troops live in on-base dorms and are not allowed to bring family members. Most troops are on one-year tours.

The ban’s end means troops will have easier access to restaurants and the nearby Family Mart food store.

“Just typical conveniences,” base spokeswoman Capt. Sheryll Klinkel said.

Gunsan City is in the midst of a major expansion effort, with plans to turn itself into a shipping, industry and research hub for East Asia. The city, which touts itself as the “Dream Hub,” has one of the closest ports to emerging superpower China, and has built one of the world’s largest manmade dikes as part of its expansion effort.

Hutchinson said she was unaware of anyone violating the restriction in the past, but the punishment for any violators would have been decided on a case-by-case basis by unit commanders or the 8th Fighter Wing commander.

The end of the ban will be marked Wednesday by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Kunsan’s main gate. Then a group of airmen at the ceremony will get the first shot at shopping in the three-mile zone.

“They’re going to flood out and go to the stores outside the gate,” Dolan said.

rowlanda@pstripes.osd.mil

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