"Government Must Take Direct Lead in Maehyang-ri Development Project"

Following Gyeonggi Province and Dongducheon City, Hwaseong City has come forward to strongly urge the government to shift its policy to directly oversee the development of the Maehyang-ri Kuni Firing Range, a U.S. military-returned facility.

Hwaseong Mayor Chae In-seok issued a statement on the 18th, saying, "The development project of the returned facility at Maehyang-ri Kuni Firing Range is facing significant difficulties in project implementation due to excessive local budget burden and poor fiscal conditions," and urged that "the government provide support to Hwaseong in a way that places no burden on the city, just as it has done with the Yongsan U.S. military base."

Mayor Chae further demanded that "the Maehyang-ri Kuni Firing Range development project, like the Yongsan base, be directly established and promoted by the central government through the enactment of a special support law such as the 'Special Act for Establishing a National Memorial Park.'"

He also requested "converting partial land acquisition cost support under the Returned Facility Support Special Act for roads and parks into full support, and raising road construction costs from 50 percent to 70 percent support, or adjusting the total required project cost to 50 percent support."

Mayor Chae stated, "It is unfair that the government, which even enacted the 'Yongsan Park Construction Special Act' to support the Yongsan U.S. military base, places the burden of developing the Maehyang-ri Kuni Firing Range project on local governments. This is forcing another sacrifice on Hwaseong citizens, who have endured decades of sacrifice for national security."

Meanwhile, the Maehyang-ri Kuni Firing Range, a returned facility in Hwaseong, was closed in 2005 after serving as a U.S. military firing range for approximately 50 years. The area suffered human casualties including 11 deaths and 8 injuries, as well as noise damage and regional alienation.

Subsequently, in 2007, the U.S. military returned the 970,000 square meters (290,000 pyeong) Maehyang-ri Kuni Firing Range site to the Ministry of National Defense. The city purchased the site and initially planned to develop it into a Peace Ecology Park by the end of 2013, but due to excessive local budget burden and poor fiscal conditions, the city has been forced to postpone the project completion date to 2017.