 |
|
A group of activists paid a visit to Maehyan-ri on August 10, holding signs that say America must pay for the cleanup of pollution there.
|
Civic groups want peace village; speculators want land
Hong Yong Deok, reporter for the Hankyoreh It is a year since a yellow flag has been raised above the former shooting range in Maehyang-ri, Ujeong-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province. The flag used to inform residents of the occurrence of bombing training by the United States Forces Korea (USFK). Seeds of a proposed ’peace village’ have been planted here, in fields where the dust and noise that used to rise during bombing training have disappeared. I visited Maehyang-ri on August 1. A few South Korean soldiers stationed in the control tower overlooking the shooting range kept a lookout. Barbed wire snaking around the former USFK base had collapsed and was covered with underbrush. The area, off limits for the past 54 years and now sitting dormant, is slowly being swallowed up by nature. Civic and residents’ groups unveiled a blueprint that proposes Maehyang-ri be changed into a peace village that would unite tourism and ecology. The comprehensive plan involves 290,000 pyeong (959,000 square meters) of land. The groups have collected 2 billion won ($US2.1 million) and bought 2,000 pyeong of private land surrounding the former range as part of the peace village plan.Residents want to establish a museum in the village, commemorating the hardship and struggle found in the history of the Maehyang-ri area. A three-story welfare center, equipped with childcare facilities, would also be set up in the peace village. While the blueprint has been produced, the village’s construction seems a long way off. Though the base has been effectively closed, residents say that since November 2005 U.S. Air Force planes have occasionally conducted exercises over the area. The Seoul government agreed to take over the shooting range, littered with shells and heavy-metal contamination, inviting complaints from residents. After the closing of the shooting range, the price of rice paddies and fields in the area jumped to 1.7 million won per pyeong, and the area became subject to severe real-estate speculation. Jeon Man-gyu, a leader of a committee of area residents, said he would file a complaint to solve conditions like the pollution cleanup issue, the continued U.S. Air Force practice in the area, and the controversial plan by the South Korean Ministry of Defense to sell the range to private owners.
