Discovered 877 New Items at Incheon Camp Market... Archive Phase 2 Launched

Post-Liberation Status Check of Bupyeong Arsenal Area and U.S. Military Redeployment

Incheon City is promoting the establishment of an archive for the former Incheon Bupyeong US military base (Camp Market), and new historical materials have been discovered through the first phase of the project.

To spread the future heritage value of Camp Market, the city established the "Basic Plan for Camp Market Archive Establishment" in January last year and began the project to discover and preserve records in July of the same year.

Through the first phase of the project, the city collected 877 items related to Camp Market from sources such as the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and the Japan Defense Research Institute, covering the period from the 1900s to 1949. In addition, oral histories were completed with five individuals related to Camp Market.

Ascom City Unit Barracks Construction Site
[Photo provided by Incheon City]

Aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Air Force in October 1945 show the Incheon Bupyeong Arsenal (a Japanese Army weapons factory) and the surrounding cityscape immediately after liberation.

Also, a 1947 deployment map of the US Army Logistics Command (ASCOM City) engineering corps stationed on the former arsenal site after liberation reveals the status of U.S. military redeployment following the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Korea at the end of 1948.

The city has completed the first phase of the archive project, which is being carried out in three phases, and will enter the second phase starting this month. In the second phase, the city plans to collect records related to Camp Market from 1950, when the Korean War broke out, until 1973, when ASCOM City was dismantled and Camp Market was reorganized, as well as conduct oral history interviews.

An official from Incheon City said, "In the first phase, we discovered basic data on the urban space surrounding the Camp Market site. Based on this, we will establish the historical significance of this space."

Meanwhile, the report on the first phase of the project can be viewed in the form of an e-book on the Camp Market website.

Ascom City Layout [Provided by Incheon City]