The official announcement that the USFK would move its major bases to Pyeongtaek came last August. Under the redeployment plans, a total of 3.49 million pyeong (about 7.68 million square meters) is needed for the new bases -- close to three times the area U.S. bases currently occupy there. The area is to accommodate most of what is now Yongsan Garrison, Combined Forces Command, UN Command and the Second Infantry Division in Uijeongbu and Dongducheon, which will leave behind only a few training facilities.

Civic groups and students opposed to the move of U.S. military bases to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province struggle with riot police as they try to make their way toward a U.S. base on Sunday.

Locals and 135 civic groups have formed a committee to stop base expansion in their area.“We will reject all attempts to forcefully take the land." On Sunday, nearly 10,000 students, residents and members of rights groups took to the streets in a march against base expansion and war on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Ji-tae, a memeber of the committee, said, "Living near the U.S. bases, we've suffered for decades from environmental pollution, sound pollution and other things, and now we must surrender even our land?" He vowed the committee would accept no Defense Ministry offer predicated on compensation. A ministry official said that once plans to move U.S. bases to Pyeongtaek were in place, the ministry went to residents, held meetings and set up a mobile counseling center to woo support. That was “sufficient contact with local residents,” he said. The committee says none of the meetings attended by locals was conducted properly.

Clashes with police during Sunday’s march left about 100 injured. The Defense Ministry is under pressure to conclude the land purchases since the deadline for handing it over to the U.S. military is the end of the year. There is much concern that as long as the differences in opinion between the two sides continue, tensions in the Pyeongtaek area will worsen.

(englishnews@chosun.com )