USFK Teens Convicted, Comparing Justice in Korea

The two USFK teenagers involved in the stabbing of a Taegu taxi driver have been found guilty and sentenced:

Two American teens accused of stabbing a Waegwon taxi driver celebrated Independence Day by walking out of a Daegu courtroom free Wednesday.

Marcus Banks, 18, who was convicted of the March 20 stabbing of taxi driver Park Sang-hui during a dispute over an unpaid taxi fare, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, but the sentence was suspended for three years. His 16-year-old accomplice was sentenced on the same charges to one year and nine months in prison, but his sentence was suspended for two years.

Judge Yoon Jong-gu said he based his decision on the seriousness of the crime, the defendants’ ages and penalties for similar crimes in South Korea. The fact that both teens’ families paid the victim financial settlements — a common practice in South Korea — also played a factor, Yoon said.

I am actually surprised by this decision and the victim was as well:

Park blasted the judge’s decision outside the courtroom after the case. “I was dumbfounded, confused and unable to believe my ears. I expected [the younger defendant’s] sentence to be suspended, but how can Banks walk away?”

What I find surprising about the sentence is the fact that this crime was more serious than what happened the night of the "Great Shinchon Massacre". In the Taegu case the 18 year old stabbed the cab driver after he had committed a crime.

In the Shinchon stabbing incident the soldier pulled out a knife to defend himself only after he was descended upon by a Korean mob beating him to a pulp and the ironic thing is that this soldier was probably the only person involved in this incident that wasn’t drinking.  This soldier was initially charged with a lesser offense much like what the 18 year old in the Taegu incident was.  

However, the anti-US hate groups got involved, which ironically many of them were members of the mob that beat down the soldiers to begin with, and they demanded he be tried for attempted murder.  Due to the demands of the anti-US groups the judge raised the charges to attempted murder and the soldier was ultimately sentenced to two and half years in Korean prison.  The soldier was literally sacrificed at the altar of Korean public opinion.  To add insult to injury, no one in the Korean mob were ever tried for assaulting the soldiers; in fact they were treated as heroes.   

The incident involving the two USFK teens did not receive the same level of Korean media attention as the Shinchon incident thus the Korean judge could impose what he felt was a fair punishment and not what the anti-US hate groups thought was a fair punishment.  This is Korean justice at work, just ask PFC Acosta. 

You can read more over at Lost Nomad.