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Police, Soldiers Evict Protesters from U.S. Base Site
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Thousands of South Korean police and soldiers on Thursday evicted the remaining occupants and anti-U.S. civic activists from an area designated for expanded U.S. military facilities south of Seoul. Police armed with batons and shields raided an elementary school, a makeshift headquarters for the occupants and activists, and detained about 400 protesters. Military engineer troops almost completed the planned 29 kilometer-long wire fence near Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, with the help of 10 UH-60 transport helicopters.
"I think we can finish building the fence before 7 p.m. at the latest. About 2,000 ground troops have been dispatched to the scene to provide support and security," Ahn Jung-hoon, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said in a briefing. The eviction came after police and protesters engaged in fierce fighting in the compound of Daechuri Elementary School, leaving about 120 police and protesters injured. They were taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. On Thursday morning, the military sent some 3,000 troops, including 600 military engineers, and about 700 civilian security personnel and heavy equipment to build a barbed wire fence around the area. The engineer troops plan to demolish the school later Thursday. "We cannot afford to let this state project drift further... We decided to designate the area the government has purchased so far as a military facility protection zone," Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said in a statement. The Pyeongtaek City government designated 2.85 million pyeong (one pyeong equals 3.3 square meters) as a restricted area for military facility protection at the request of the Defense Ministry. South Korea plans to draw up a "master plan" on expanding Camp Humphreys by September along with studies on its environmental impact and exploration for cultural assets. Construction is schedule to begin in October. The military-police operation, which started around 6 a.m., came after the government's repeated warnings that force would be used to vacate the area near the U.S. camp. Last year, the government took legal control of about 3.49 million pyeong and has since been seeking to clear the area of people who remain there. The land has been earmarked to enable Camp Humphreys to triple in size by 2008 and become the U.S. military's chief installation in South Korea. The U.S. military plans to relocate its Yongsan Garrison in downtown Seoul and the 2nd Infantry Division near the border with North Korea to Pyeongtaek. But some farmers and organized protesters have defied government orders to leave the site and vowed to plant a new spring rice crop in spite of government efforts to evict them. "I received a phone call from Prime Minister Han Myung-sook saying the government should make efforts to prevent the distortion of the facts by demagogues from spreading to the public," Yoon said during light conversation with several reporters after delivering the statement. However, the remaining occupants and civic activists put the blame for the stalled talks on the government, saying the Defense Ministry was bent on building a case for pushing ahead with its plan to send troops. "The ministry has no intention to resume dialogue to resolve the issue. I don't understand why the ministry declined the dialogue among representatives, including the defense minister," said Kim Ji-tae, head of the residents' ad hoc committee. Last month, the government tried in vain to block several canals that bring water to the contested rice fields outside Camp Humphreys after protesters scuffled with hundreds of security workers. On April 7, the ministry deployed about 750 civilian security guards in the area to attempt to block the irrigation canals, a move to prevent farmers from cultivating the rice paddies. About 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are still technically in a state of war since the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
