US military shooting range’s construction in S Korea raises concern

SEOUL: The construction of a shooting range used by the US Forces Korea (USFK) in South Korea’s southeastern city of Changwon without prior notification to local authorities has raised concerns about noise and safety risks among local residents, local broadcaster KBS reported.

According to the KBS report on Thursday, logging work began in March on a hill in downtown Changwon, about 300 km southeast of the capital Seoul, and the shooting range will be completed in two years.

However, as apartment complexes with over 1,100 units, shopping centres and industrial parks are concentrated within a radius of 1.5 km from the shooting range, nearby residents are greatly concerned about the noise at the site and the risk of emergency accidents, it added. Local authorities were unaware of the project until residents raised complaints, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the KBS.

Local residents have raised petitions on the city government’s website, demanding that the site be shut down immediately.

“The fact that the city government didn’t even know about this is utterly dumbfounding. We local (South) Koreans almost got undermined by those Americans,” a resident wrote on the city government’s website.

Given residents’ concerns about potential noise and safety accidents, the Changwon city government said that it would raise such concerns to the defense ministry and urge measures to prevent such incidents from occurring. (IANS)

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