By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A court ruled that police' keeping civilians off a location on which a U.S. military base will be relocated is illegal.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled Tuesday that the government should pay 4 million won ($4,100) in compensation to five out of nine residents including an online news reporter, who filed a compensation lawsuit on the grounds of mental damage suffered as a result of police-led restrictions on them entering the controversial U.S. garrison in Daechu-ri in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in 2006.
In the ruling, the court said that the Korean Army had asked police prevent protesters from entering the site after naming it a military protection area. ``It had no right to comprehensively prohibit citizens from entering the military zone. Thus, it is acceptable that the police restriction caused mental damage to the plaintiffs,'' the ruling said.
The court said the five to be compensated had proved their damage through video clips recorded on the scene.
The conflict between residents and the government in Daechu-ri started in mid-2006 as the government announced the U.S. garrison in Yongsan, central Seoul would be relocated to Daechu-ri, as part of efforts to give more strategic flexibility to the U.S. Army.
But the relocation plan soon confronted strong protest from residents there from pro-democratic civic groups and anti-U.S. activists
The Korean Army named the site a military protection area in May, 2006, to run the military base relocation plan smoothly.