All kinds of important cultural artifacts including Bronze Age dolmen, burial mounds from the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BC - AD 676) and Buddhist statues from the Koryo period have been uncovered at U.S. Forces Korea bases across the nation but largely neglected. Grand National Party Rep. Kim Yang-soo on Tuesday disclosed a government report on a study of the cultural artifacts found at USFK bases since 2002. According to the report, the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage confirmed that burial mounds dating back to the Three Kingdoms on the Mu Juk (“invincible”) USFK Marine base in Pohang have been left untouched since being looted during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

What are thought to be rare Buddhist statues from the Koryo Era are being stored in an office at Camp Hialeah in Busan. In June, at a U.S. airfield in Suwon 280,000 pyeong (1 pyeong = 3.3 m) of ground was investigated, but since more than 70 percent is covered with concrete or asphalt, an adequate examination of the area’s original topography could not be carried out. Research into the areas of Camp Henry in Daegu, Camp Carroll in Waegwan, Camp Hialeah Busan, and Mu Juk in Pohang, have all been completed, and similar projects will be carried out at the Osan Air Base in Pyongtaek and Camp Walker in Daegu.

(englishnews@chosun.com )