From: Foreign Bases Project <fbp@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Date: 16 Aug 92 07:15 PDT
Subject: Disarm the Pacific
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473700027:000:4340
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!fbp    Aug 16 07:15:00 1992


From: Foreign Bases Project <fbp>
Subject: Disarm the Pacific

/* Written  6:21 pm  Aug 12, 1992 by fbp in cdp:wri.news */
/* ---------- "Disarm the Pacific" ---------- */
Korea: "Yongsan Base Not to Pyoungtaek!"

     The history of foreign bases in Pyoungtaek goes back 100
years. In Pyoungtaek, south of Seoul, there are two U.S. bases
which were taken over from the Japanese in 1945: Camp Humphreys,
an army base occupying about 600,000 square meters of land; and
Osan Air Base which occupies about 400,000 square meters of land.

     There are people who are nostalgic for their childhood when
they used to receive chocolates and biscuits from U.S. military
men, and there are many people who work in the bases. However,
the pain caused by these bases is too great for our people.
Pyoungtaek has the highest rate of juvenile delinquency. It is
clustered with decadent pleasure haunts unlike other rural areas.
It is flooded with illegal American products like rice, drugs,
electrical goods, beef, etc. The Korean people get beaten or
hassled without getting any compensation. 
     In March 1990 there was a notice in the major dailies that
the transfer of U.S. military headquarters at Yongsan (in Seoul)
to Taejon was canceled and instead the transfer of the base was
targeted for Pyoungtaek. According to the press, Pyoungtaek was
selected due to the great opposition by the residents of Taejon
and that the level of anti-American sentiment in Pyoungtaek is
lower than that of Taejon. 
     The people of Pyoungtaek were shocked. At the beginning
there were seven of us who were terrified at the idea of another
massive U.S. base. We met secretly at first due to police
oppression, but on May 22, 1990, we handed out leaflets with the
slogan "Oppose the U.S. base transfer to Pyoungtaek with our
lives!" and called our group the Pyoungtaek Citizens' Committee
to Oppose the Base Move (PCCOUS). By July 4 we collected 6,000
signatures from Pyoungtaek's residents opposing the base
transfer.
     In October 1990, PCCOUS helped found the National Anti-Bases
Counter-measure Committee with others from regions with U.S.
bases. In November 1990 a local newspaper, Democratic Pyoungtaek,
reported that 73.6 percent of area people were against the base
coming to Pyoungtaek. This kind of treatment toward the Americans
is the result of their behavior and deeds.
     In November 1991, leaders and residents of five villages
where the base is to be situated were invited by Pyoungtaek
County officials to participate in the formation of the Yongsan
Enterprise Promotion Committee. The committee intended to explain
the bases plan and discuss methods of compensation. Instead, the
local leaders exclaimed, "No compensation is needed. We will
never leave our lands even if we are dead," and walked out of the
Committee. They returned to their villages and formed the
Promoting Committee to Oppose the U.S. Base Coming to Pyoungtaek.
Soon after Defense Ministry officials attempted to hold a hearing
in the villages themselves, but about 200 villagers gathered and
stopped them from entering.
     PCCOUS has become the leader in the grassroots anti-bases
movements of Pyoungtaek, Song-tan and An-song regions. It has
played a major role in the formation of the South Kyunggi
Regional Office of the National Alliance and Unification of
Korea, and is now leading the Pyoungtaek, Song-tan, An-song
Regional People's Forum for the realization of unification of all
democratic forces and the formation of a civilian government. In
the future, PCCOUS intends to be the center of all anti-bases
movements in Korea.
--Korean Alliance of Anti-Nuclear Peace Movements (KAANP) 
--Pyoungtaek Citizens' Committee to Oppose the U.S. Base Move to
Pyoungtaek (PCCOUS)

Contact: PCCOUS, Pigeon 2 Dong 738-13, Pyoungtaek City, Kyoung Gi
Do, south Korea 450-152.

********
From September/October 1992 (Vol.9 #5) issue of the Nonviolent
Activist, publication of the War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette
St., New York, NY 10012. Subscriptions $15/year.

This is an edited version of a talk from the Pacific People's
Forum Toward a Century Free of Overseas Bases, Yokohama, Japan,
May 3-4, 1992. For information in the U.S., contact Pacific
Campaign to Disarm the Seas,  c/o Peace Resource Center, 5717
Lindo Paseo, San Diego, CA 92115-1326; prcsandiego@igc.org.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean