[CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS, GLOBAL: "Ten years later, contamination still plagues Maehyang Village, " South Korea

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Ten years later, contamination still plagues Maehyang Village
Former site of US bombing practice range has still not had an official cleanup to get rid of disintegrating bomb shells

By Hong Yong-deok
The Hankyoreh (South Korea)
August 20,2015 

Banners fluttered in the breeze around Maehyang Village on Aug. 19. They advertised an upcoming event to mark the tenth anniversary of the US military’s return of the Gyeonggi Province village’s Kooni firing range to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Aug. 20.

Grass was growing on Nong Island and the inland firing range, the bombing having long ago ceased. Ebb tide had brought the waters away from the tidal flat near Nong Island, where visitors fished for gobies.

The return of the firing range in Maehyang, a village in Ujeong township in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, was a rare example of local residents and civic groups successfully convincing the US military to close one of its overseas bombing ranges - a result that came after a tenacious 18-year-long battle that started in 1988. The community also set a precedent for noise pollution lawsuits at military airfields when a four-year court battle ended in 2004 with an award of damages for noise from US bombers.

…

For the entire article, see
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/705260.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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