The key points on the issue are --

• The villages grew up around the range. 
• The bombs in 2000 did not - contrary to popular myth - land outside the range causing damage. 
• The Korean government convinced all but a minority of villagers to relocate, at government expense, in 1997, but the minority - backed by nationwide anti-US civil groups - successfully killed the plans.
• The North Korean Summit, more than any particular event in the fun filled year 2000 is why Korean society decided to take up this cause.

And a crucial point is this --- South Korea can't just keep piling on misinformed issue after misinformed issue ------ and then point to the bulk load ---- and say the gross sum justifies the net charge that the US has been a cancer on its society.

[EDITORIAL] Are Koreans Disposable People?

"Would they dump toxic chemicals into the Potomac River?" This is the caption of an editorial by Korea's largest circulation daily on the shocking news that the U.S. Forces Korea admitted to dumping formaldehyde and methanol into the Han River through the drainage system at its Yongsan military base in Seoul. These toxic chemicals are widely known to cause cancer and birth defects.

The news is ethically repulsive. Environmentally, the act is destruction-friendly. In psychiatric terms, it comes close to an act of quasi-murder. For, what matters here is the sick mind and attitude that made possible the dumping of the cancer-causing substance. Whether or not the quantity of the discarded, amount was enough to cause cancer is not the issue here.

Regretfully, the repeated blunders of Americans here give grounds for more people to raise questions: "Are they here to defend us? Thanks but from whom?" The answer to the question is in a sense becoming more and more ambiguous and ambivalent in the post inter-Korean summit detente.

BINGO!!

The bulk of this editorial concerns the incredibly small illegal water dumping, but it also listed Maehyang-ri, the first large issue of 2000, as a sign of why Korea is ruined by the US relationship. 

Why?

Exactly as the Korea Times editor states so plainly -- South Korean society was giddy over the North-South Korea Summit.   

Such a meeting had been unthinkable months before, and when it came, and the Korean people saw long time opposition politician Kim Dae Jung shake hands and share drinks with Kim Jong Il --- South Korean society went batshit. 

And I do not really blame them.  After so many years of total destruction looming over their heads, they should have felt great about the summit.

Such a surge in Korean pride and hope should not, however, have so easily translated throughout Korean society --- into one of the worst period of anti-US activity for every tiny thing they could pick up.  It got so bad in 2000 it led to several attacks on US soldiers, a rare travel advisor being issued by the US Embassy - warning Americans to avoid coming to Korea if possible - and the stabbing death of a USFK doctor in the streets of Seoul.

The issue of the Koonni bombing range, and what happened, or what they say happened that day in 2000, has remained a good though somewhat minor tool in the anti-US arsenal. 

It isn't minor to the Korean press, however.  Here are some videos done by the main stream news and some by the anti-US groups for their websites. 

Can you tell the difference? 

Don't you think at least one of them could find a way to include the US version of the story or that of the Korean government fact finding commission too?

The myth created about the "damage" done at Koon-ni has  solidified with no hope of rescue for the truth.

Accidents have occurred throughout the history of the range, with the latest mishap taking place in May 2000. A U.S. fighter plane dropped six 500-pound MK-82 live bombs on the seashore to lighten its weight after a engine failed.

Concussions from the explosions damaged more than 200 homes and seven villagers were hospitalized. The residents were infuriated when an investigation found that the incident had caused no direct damage. (Joongang Daily 18 April 2004)

A joint US-SK and civilian extensive inquiry laid out convincing evidence the bombs dropped on the range could not have damaged any homes given the location of the impact and the amount of vibrations they could have caused.  The Joongang Daily and Korean media seldom refer to that study -- they simply give the anti-US civic group version of events -- which become the common wisdom and myth in greater Korean society.

You cannot access the article from the Korea Herald since they began making people pay for the archives, but here is the summary it gave on the Koon-ni site on 28 Feb 2005

The shooting range was closed in May 2000 for 37 days, after the U.S. troops accidentally dropped a bomb in the heart of the town on May 8.

Here is how an editorial printed by the Joongang Daily noted the facts of the case on 15 April 2000 -- it is truly incredible the article can still be found in the online archives:

In Maehyang, nine were killed and 21 injured in the blast and ensuing ground tremors after a U.S. A10 Bomber jettisoned six bombs in response to an engine failure. Residents are organizing and preparing to bring their case for compensation against the U.S. Air Force to court.

However, this time the finger should be pointed firmly at the Korean government for failing to reach an accord with the U.S. military for their continued co-existence on the peninsula and neglecting to accommodate Korean citizens who live near U.S. bases.

It's undeniable that previous administrations weighed the importance of national security over that of its citizens. Now that times have changed, the government must shift its focus and hold the U.S. accountable for the actions of its military, both in terms of property rights and environmental issues.

Here is a better summary of what happened at the range the day that has become such a focal point for Korean myth-making -

US Air Force jets resumed training at Koon-ni Range in June 2000 after a 37-day suspension. Seventh Air Force officials suspended training May 8, after an Osan A-10 pilot with engine problems

(More value production by anti-USFK groups)

jettisoned six live 500-pound bombs at Koon-ni Range in accordance with Republic of Korea and US flight safety procedures. The pilot, experiencing an engine failure, proceeded to the nearest available range, Koon-ni, and jettisoned six bombs into the sea as a weight reduction measure. The bombs were dropped 1,850 meters from land and 2,020 meters from the closest populated village.

After the incident, 7th AF officials suspended training at the range because villagers claimed that incident caused property damage and personal injuries. The suspension allowed a team of 10 Republic of Korea and 13 US Forces Korea representatives to conduct and inquiry into claims the incident may have injured local villagers or damaged their property. The team released its report June 1, and concluded the jettisoned bombs didn’t cause any injuries or property damage. Two independent Korean civilian teams validated that the incident did not cause any damages or injuries. Nearly 3,400 reports of damages to 558 houses were examined. The buildings with claimed damage were 2,000- to 4,000- meters away from point of impact of the nearest bomb, too distant to have been caused by the bombs, the teams concluded. Reports of live stock miscarriages were also investigated but could not be correlated to the bomb blasts.

The detailed official report gets into the amount of decibels the vibrations from the bombs exploding altogether could have made and how they could not have damaged property off site.

Here is how the Korea Times reported it --

On May 8, one of three U.S. A-10 aircraft which were en route from Songtan Air Base to a training range near Kunsan, inadvertently dropped six bombs on the training range due to engine trouble, injuring seven residents and damaging more than 100 homes. The bombs caused explosions that shattered windows and damaged the walls and roofs of some 170 homes.

The range, which has been in use since 1951, has caused nearby villagers to suffer various damages for decades. The residents have been staging a movement to relocate the range and seek compensation for their damages.

The Times reports the claims of the civic groups as fact with no supporting evidence such as pictures of damaged walls or the injured, and from the amount of times you do get images when a US soldier gets into a bar fight or does commit a horrible crime, you would expect if such images could have been gotten, they would have been displayed to help promote Korea's justification for rage among more and more Koreans.

In fact, there are plenty of images and videos showing bomb and bullet shells on the range - as you have seen in the videos on this page.  The images are used to promote the idea it is outrageous for USFK to use Korean land for such practice ------ with no voice in opposition given to the US military or even the Korean government or other voices that might say, "We think the US and ROK militaries need to practice to stay sharp incase North Korea attacks (again)."

Particularly if you read the news articles on the Raw Data page, you will see that the Korean government, both parties, quickly helped galvanize the myth and anger over the incident -- often echoing the civic group claims --- and especially calling repeatedly for "SOFA Revisions" to combat such terrible "accidents." 

And it was also not uncommon when the Korean government threw on the brakes, or tried to, in the rage over Koon-ni - when it looked like it was getting out of hand -- when the riots and base invasions became too violent and the foreign press started covering what was happening in South Korea.

The government was not successful in curbing the demonstrated anti-US, pent up anger, because the hearts of the Korean media, and the bulk of Korean society, were ready for an explosion.  The more the Summit came closer, the more it did not make sense any more to worry about pissing Americans off and potentially causing a real shift in the US-SK military alliance.  When the Summit finally arrived, when the images of Kim Jong Il acting like old friends with the South Korean president were played all over the press, Koreans became absolutely drunk with nostalgia for peace and unification ---- which, again, translated instantly into a will to rage against the US.

Koon-ni did fade as the primary focal point for it, but an even more bizarre and weak reason was taken up in the Water Dumping Scandal.

Another key factor in the Koon-ni range saga is how the media virtually never notes how the Korean government has said in the past, as well as USFK, that the villages grew up around the range, not the other way around.  USFK did not plop down a bombing range right beside Korean villages --- which is one of the primary selling points for anger within the bulk of "average Korean" society.

The ministry counted 238 households in two villages relatively adjacent to the firing range as those which will be subject to its relocation program. In early 1997, the residents agreed to the ministry's request for relocation but the agreement broke down a year later due to dissenting opinions among the villagers.

While the residents claim that villages had existed even before the U.S. Air Force began its drill on the range in 1951, the ministry says people began to inhabit the area after the firing range was established. Some ministry officials contend that the residents may have experienced inconvenience and some damages since they opted to live there after the range was established.  (KT 17 May 2000)

This Korea Times article is fair.  It gives both sides a voice, which is one of my biggest beefs with the Korean media in how it more often than not promotes the voice of the anti-US civic groups and down plays or omits altogether the US response.

I can't give the Korea Times too much credit as an org, however, because this ran the same day from the pen of the editor --

At last, the Korean Defense Ministry and United States Forces Korea have agreed to conduct a joint probe into the alleged damages suffered by villagers....  Though belated, it is good that the Korean and U.S. authorities have reached an agreement to address the grievances and complaints of the villagers. 

US reactions are always late or insincere.

The bombs exploded, injuring seven residents and damaging some 170 homes.

(The Priest in America to join Puerto Rico's range protest)

The claims of the civic groups are given as fact.

However, the USFK reportedly denied that the bombing damaged the village, provoking anger and protests from residents. In the meantime, the Korean government authorities turned a deaf ear to the inhabitants' appeals for appropriate countermeasures including compensation. From the beginning, it seems that the

Korean government was reluctant to interfere with the politically and militarily sensitive issue, concerned with Washington's defense and security commitment to Korea.

This is also typical.  The fact the Korean government got all but the most die-hard citizens to relocate -- at government expense -- back in 1997 somehow does not lead the writer to conclude the government has made efforts to solve the problem.  Instead, this editor of the #1 or #2 English language paper, which is a member of a major media conglomerate like the other Eng. sources, characterizes it as having a "deaf ear" to the plight of the poor villagers.

And why? 

Because the big, bad US makes the Korean government cower afraid to protect its own people.

The Korea Times editor also reported as fact in an editorial in 2003 that, if USFK allowed a GI to stand trial in Korean court for a DUI fatality, it would be the "first time" Korea had been able to hold such a trial, and he implied that the likely trial soon to be held was a direct result of the orgy of hate Korea threw for the 2nd half of 2002 until the spring or summer of 2003 over the death of the two middle school girls. 

This is normal thought in Korean society --- across Korean society --- even among pro-US-SK alliance forces.  Few of them would question such a statement of fact.

Every Korean also knows of the infamous, horrible Markle murder case where he raped the corpse of the Korean woman he killed with a beer bottle and umbrella.  Koreans know the case, but somehow they block from memory-recall that the soldier was found guilty in a Korean court and put in Korean prison.  They will still claim today that US soldiers are "never" tried in Korean court.  And they get this from the Korean media.

It does not make sense.  Koreans are not stupid.  It is not some unsophisticated country full of bumpkins.  It is simply a prejudice --- which are inherently illogical.

Koreans want to believe this stuff is true.  They want to believe the justifications for their rage are righteous. 

Even among the more supportive elements of the society, they do not dispute the raw facts as held by the more anti-US forces.  They simply do not believe the fact that the US "is so bad to Korea" should lead Korea to demand US troops leave the peninsula ---- as long as the North might possibly be a threat.

That is why nobody but a few expats like myself jump up to call into questions such gross distortions of the truth.

The rest of Korea simply does not know they are not the truth - even other news outlets.

Also notice in the editorial by the Korea Times editor -- that the fact USFK disputes the claims by the civic group leaders --- is enough to justify righteous indignation on its own.

....when it is judged a good time to push against the US-SK alliance ---- because these top players in influential institutions in Korea --- share most of the same basic positions on a wide variety of issues as the anti-US civic groups ---- which are in fact what most Koreans believe.

The difference comes in what they believe should be done about the righteous Korean grievances --- today.

Back to the good Korea Times article -- it notes a bone of contention that also overlaps with other base issues.

The civic groups claim the villages were always in the same place when the US military set up the range in 1951 during the Korean war.  The Korean government and USFK says the villages sprang up around the range.

This is similar to claims about US bases in urban areas north of Seoul, near the DMZ, like Uijongbu, or even the Yongsan HQ in Seoul.  Korean society as a whole believes it is highly inappropriate USFK would plop down military bases on such "prime real estate" and in a place to interfere with the daily lives of so many Korean citizens.

Take a look at this map that comes from the executive summary of the US-SK Land Partnership Plan that will move US bases out of these areas and close down around 50% of the US bases in Korea to consolidate the forces south of the Han river and away from North Korean artillery.

Notice the first image represents population density of 1986 -- not 1956 when Korean society was smaller.

Most of the US bases that have become a major, primary bone of contention between Korean society and the US were not in major urban areas when they were created.  Korea grew up, and it also grew up around the bases. 

I am sure it is a pain in the ass to live near an airport or a base where heavy equipment or vehicles can be heard over the walls.  It is good the US military is moving out of some of these areas.

But, the facts do not match Korea's righteous outrage.  They not only do not consider circumstances like Korea's population growth and the density issue, we can't even get them to stop promoting clearly false facts about GI crimes and convictions at the highest levels of their social institutions - media, government, university and these days even primary and secondary schools.

Another factor in the level of public outrage among the average Koreans was the government election in which anti-US-SK alliance pressure was needed to swing votes.

Ruling and opposition parties yesterday called on the government to revise the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), a treaty which both civic groups and the political circle find inequitable to Korea.

The growing call for a revision of SOFA came to the fore in the wake of an incident at a bombing exercise range in Kyonggi-do used by the U.S. Air Force.

Both the ruling Millennium Democratic Party and opposition Grand National Party promised to amend the SOFA, which was often cited as a biased agreement, during the recent election campaign.

A senior MDP official said the ruling party could not stand idle on the issue anymore as public criticism is mounting following the incident at the Maehyang-ri range.

Rep. Har Kyoung-kun, a member of the National Assembly Defense Committee, said, "The Korea-U.S. treaty should be revised, if not to the level of the U.S.-Japan treaty. It also should not be as unequal one as between the U.S. and Ethiopia."

If the SOFA with SK is weaker than the one with Ethiopia, I'll drink a gallon of piss.

The vast majority of Koreans do not know Korea signs SOFAs with nations where they send any troops.  They believe only the US "forces" other nations to give special, sovereignty- infringing privileges to American soldiers.  Along with this, and an absolute will to forget US soldiers are routinely tried in Korean civilian court for crimes ranging from murder to theft, -- the "SOFA Argument" is one of the most effective selling points for Korea's righteous disgust -- year after year.

We believe that the pervasive anti-American atmosphere which intensifies whenever concerns surrounding the US military presence are raised, is unhelpful for both Korea and the United States. As testified by the Maehyang-ri incident, the US military in Korea tends to define the anti-American feeling as an overly emotional response. However, the United States must reconsider the background to their relations with Korea. The situation has its origins in the 1960 SOFA agreement. The United States has ignored reasonable repeated requests to reflect political developments in SOFA. If the United States seriously considered requests to revise SOFA with regard to the standards of democracy and human rights - their favorite ideological banners - would public opinion be the same?

This is the argument repeated from street protest, to media, to highest levels of government, to the ear of the average Korean of every age.

The problem is that it is the USFK and US government that have more of the facts on their side.

The biggest selling point for the Koreans --- that the SOFA prohibits "justice" and allows GIs to --- literally --- get away with murder is simply a lie.  A lie on a national consciousness level.  I have shown this above already.  Even the people who have a good career in a position of power informing the people cannot remember that US soldiers accused of murder, rape, theft, assault, and other crimes have been tried in Korean court.  I watched a number of cases after I arrived in Korea in about 1995.  But, the Korea Times editor, and Korean politicians, and the person in the street, can't remember that a US serviceman was sentenced to death for a horrible murder in 1970?  They can't remember the Markle Murder verdict of 1993?  They can't check the record and see the first GIs put in jail under the old SOFA signed in mid-1960s happened in 1967?

(The image to the right ran in a Korean newspaper.  It showed a GI raping a Korean's wife while the man lay paralyzed by the "SOFA line" the soldier drew to protect himself.)

The weight of evidence is clearly against what Korean society absolutely wills itself to believe.  The same is true of the "environmental degradation" of Korea by US bases and the US Embassy. 

For most of my time in Korea and watching it, the 37,000 US soldiers committed less crime statistically than on average in Korea, Koreans who visited US bases often told me how they were surprised at all the grass and space -- compared to what Korea's rapid industrial growth left in Korean cities -- you can look at things like the 2000 Water Dumping case to see how grossly out of proportion Korean society rages against infractions that pristine Sweden would have considered minor.

Horseshit...

It is such a ludicrous argument from any angle.  Korean's don't eat fish they could catch in the Han.  Koreans have large officer water cooler bottles of water delivered to their homes each week.  I was told not to wash fruits and vegetables in tap water.  But, because USFK dumped some 20 gallons of formaldehyde into the base sewer, which was cleaned 3 times before touching the highly polluted Han, Koreans wanted to throw the USFK man in jail.

And in the SOFA argument, Koreans want to have the right to throw GIs in jail when Korean citizens would not even stand trial -- and when Korean soldiers are never tried in a Korean civilian court (they are always handled by the military judicial system) --- and they want to be able to make the US government pay millions of dollars for issues like the Maehyang-ri Saga or for environmental clean up above and beyond what they demand of Hyundai or Samsung or the Korean military.

South Korean society has ever right to make outrageous demands of the US and US military.  It has ever right to rage on lies and misinformation if it wants.

I just wish Americans had the chance to understand the amount of danger involved in being in Korea when the North is so dangerous and teetering on the verge of collapse for over a decade --- and to understand how much South Korean society has created a culture of fomenting righteous rage against the very soldiers and the nation that is offering such a sacrifice.

But American citizens remain ignorant.

As I showed above, today, most Koreans, even those paid to know better, believe on that day in Maehyang-ri -- when a US plane heading to another range had engine trouble and had to drop its load ONTO THE RANGE -- that a US plane "accidentally" dropped bombs "inside the heart of the town" - or close enough to the town - to cause "many serious injuries" and a "large amount of property damage."

If you press them with facts, they will fall back to the idea it is "outrageous" the US would even put the range so close to villages.

If you combat that with arguments the villages were not there in 1951 or that the Korean government long ago agreed to move the villagers but the plan fell through when civic group-inspired die-hard locals refused, they will fall back to something else. 

If you push enough, they will eventually abandon that issue and jump to another --- that justifies Korea's anger at USFK and the US-SK "bully" relationship.

All the while, however, they have not abandoned Maehyang-ri altogether. 

They will bring it up again, right back at square one, to justify Korea's righteous rage again at another time.

It is a broken record that can't be fixed.

Search the net for "Maehyang" and "Koon-ni" and see the level of bullshit that flows around the issue.

And this is just one of the many, many "points of memory" Korea reminds itself about once or twice a year.

There are so many of them, the vast majority just as bogus and exaggerated and propped up by false information as the Maehyang-ri Bombing Mishap, that at any particular moment Korean society feels strong enough to exercise a fresh spike in anti-US/USFK activity --- when the average Korean feels more like going out into the street or at least talking loudly over the water cooler in the office about what the media is showing concerning the American bastards again --- any new event - large or small - will have an anniversary date right around the corner - from some other "tragedy" Korea has had to suffer at the hands of the US in Korea - to add to the new event to help pump up the righteous anger.