Category: crime & punishment

One of the criticism often claimed by anti-USFK activists is that US soldiers commit crimes and not be tried in Korean courts.  This is of course ridiculous, but it was a claim often made by Koreans especially during the 2002 anti-US movement period.  This claim had no truth to it stretching all the way back to 1967.  It was in 1967 that a US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was reached that allowed US troops to be tried in Korean courts.  Before then crimes committed by US troops were handled by US military court martials.  When the SOFA was agreed upon back in 1967 it was only a matter of time before someone became the first US servicemember tried in a Korean court.  That person would end up being US Air Force Staff Sergeant Billy Cox:

Billy Cox was arrested for crimes that are amazingly similar to stupid crimes committed by US servicemembers to this day.  SSgt Cox on the night of February 20, 1967 was accused of setting fire to the home of his Korean girlfriend named Kyung-soon Eum who lived in Osan.  He was alleged to have set the fire because he found out Eum had been cheating on him with another man.  After setting the fire he was then accused of assaulting a cab driver.  Considering all the incidents with cab drivers in recent years, it is only fitting that the first servicemember case handled by Koreans courts was a taxi cab related incident.  Here is how the March 10, 1967 Stars & Stripes described the incident:

As the case went to trial the Korean prosecutors asked the Seoul court to sentence SSgt Cox to three years in a Korean jail.  Here is how the June 7, 1967 Stars & Stripes described the trial:

The trial ended with SSgt Cox being acquitted on the arson charge, but convicted of assaulting the cab driver. He was given a 50,000 won fine by the court which was about $185 back in 1967.  So if there was ever a trivia question asking what crime the first US servicemember tried in a Korean court was convicted of, it would be for assaulting a cab driver all the way back in 1967.  Good luck though getting an anti-US activist in Korea to ever believe it.

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

Via Gusts of Popular Feeling comes a Korean news report about a foreign hagwon teacher who is driving a scooter and reacts angrily to being cut off by a Korean driver.  He later pulls in front of the car to stop the driver and then punches him in the face.

Video of the incident can be seen at this link.  Not that it is a good thing to try in the first place, but considering all the cameras in Korea it would be hard for a foreigner especially to get away with an assault like this.

This should come as no surprise that the man who slashed US Ambassador Mark Lippert was a radical leftist inspired by North Korean propaganda:

The South Korean man who slashed the top U.S. envoy to Seoul earlier this year committed the crime after being influenced by North Korea’s propaganda, police said Tuesday.

Kim Ki-jong attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast function at a cultural center in central Seoul on March 5, leaving the US ambassador with deep gashes on his face and arm that needed more than 80 stitches to close.

Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.

On Tuesday, police brought an additional charge of violating South Korea’s National Security Law that prohibits citizens from supporting or praising North Korea.

Police said Kim’s alleged attempt to kill Lippert was inspired by North Korea’s propaganda that incited the killing of the U.S. envoy.

North Korea has hailed Kim as a hero, comparing him to Ahn Joong-keun, a renowned anti-Japanese independence fighter revered in both Koreas. Still, North Korea has disavowed its involvement in the attack, which South Korean officials called “an act of terrorism.”

Police also said books and other materials confiscated from Kim’s home support North Korea’s strategy of communizing South Korea.

In April, he told the first session of his pretrial at a court that he did not try to murder the ambassador and that he was proud he reduced the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It just wouldn’t be a major construction project in Korea without a bribery scandal of some kind and USFK is not immune to this:

Police said Tuesday that they have raided SK Engineering & Construction Co. and its construction site on a U.S. base in central South Korea over slush fund allegations involving a U.S. military official.

The National Police Agency confiscated materials including account books and computer hard disks from the head office of SK E&C in Seoul and its work site at the U.S. Forces Korea base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

An SK E&C subcontractor allegedly stashed away about 1 billion won (US$890,000) and handed it over to a then USFK official in 2010, according to the official. The now-defunct subcontractor is headed by a former South Korean field officer.

The police have already obtained witness accounts from former employees of the subcontractor. They are currently investigating whether SK E&C was involved.

They have also sent investigators to the U.S. to ask U.S. law enforcement authorities for cooperation in searching for the former USFK official.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but $890,000 bribe has got to be one of the biggest bribery scandals in USFK history.  That is a lot of money.  If anyone is wondering, corruption involving USFK personnel is nothing new. What is important is that these people are caught and punished to discourage others from trying to pull off the same scams.

This just goes to show that in Korea there are limits to free speech that people need to be aware of:

Suwon District Court sentenced four months in prison to two “Ilbe” members who were convicted of criminal insult. The insult unfolded in this manner: one defendant, last named Kim, purchased the school uniform for Danwon High School–the high school whose entire second year class nearly wiped out in the Sewol tragedy–for the purpose of Internet trolling. Kim discussed with the other defendant, last named Cho, about the best way to troll, and Cho suggested Kim take a picture of himself wearing the uniform and holding up a stick of fish cake. The caption for the picture would read: “I made a new friend”–that is to say, the drowned Danwon student is now friends with fish.  [Marmot’s Hole]

You can read the rest at the link, but this seems like a pretty harsh punishment for Internet trolling.  Korean men who rape USFK soldiers get less less jail time than this.

I would be very surprised if the appeals court ruling acquitting Cho is overturned because really is what she did worthy of going to jail for a whole year?:

South Korean prosecutors on Thursday appealed a court decision that acquitted the eldest daughter of Korean Air’s chairman of disrupting a flight in a rage over macadamia nuts.

Cho Hyun-Ah, who had been in jail since her arrest in December, walked free last week after an appeals court overturned her conviction for violating aviation safety laws.

The prosecutor’s office in Seoul announced that it had submitted an appeal with the Supreme Court to reverse the verdict.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

It was only a matter of time before Heather Cho would be acquitted. She was publicly shamed and the media attention has long since moved along so the time was right to let her walk:

A Seoul appeals court Friday acquitted a former Korean Air Lines vice president of charges of changing the route of a flight in the so-called “nut rage” case.

The Seoul High Court sentenced Cho Hyun-ah to 10 months in prison, but suspended the prison term for two years, freeing her several months after she was put behind bars in December.

A lower court delivered a one-year sentence in December, convicting her of the flight route change to endanger flight safety as she forced the chief steward off a taxiing flight because she was served nuts in an unopened bag instead of on a plate.  [Yonhap]

Just when you thought you have seen all the stupid incidents a soldier could cause in Korea someone finds a new level of stupid:

Police say a U.S. soldier was detained after rushing onto the field during a professional baseball game in Seoul in what they called a “heroic” attempt to impress his girlfriend.

The soldier, identified by South Korean police as a 30-year-old corporal, rushed onto the field of Jamsil Stadium around 7:30 p.m. Saturday during a nationally televised game between the Doosan Bears and Hanhwa Eagles.

Doosan security guards nabbed the soldier, who was attending the game with friends, as he ran toward second to first base. Officials suspended the game for about five minutes following the incident.

8th Army spokesman Col. Shawn Stroud said the soldier has been released to his unit and is being investigated by South Korean police. A Jamsil police officer said police could smell alcohol on his breath. His name was not released.

The soldier is expected to be charged with obstruction of work, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine up to 15 million won (about $13,700). The officer said the soldier is unlikely to receive the stiffest punishment, and similar disturbances have resulted in fines or suspended sentences.  [Stars & Stripes]

A couple of USFK servicemembers have found themselves in trouble and it made the local news:

Police said Tuesday that they have arrested a U.S. serviceman over an alleged assault on a South Korean employee at a local club after being drunk.

The 29-year-old U.S. soldier, whose name has not been revealed, was arrested Sunday on accusations of hitting a South Korean employee’s face with a brick at a club located in the central Seoul.

Police said the sergeant was kicked out of the club after being too drunk and was protesting against the move when he made the assault.

He was immediately arrested and was handed over to the U.S. military police. Police said they will summon the soldier for further investigation in the near future.

In a separate case, another 28-year-old U.S. sergeant was also questioned by police on Sunday after fighting with three South Koreans. (Yonhap)

I don’t know what’s worse about this story, the victims trying to bribe their way into jobs or the conman who took their money for himself?:

A former Camp Stanley employee was arrested on allegations that he bilked South Koreans out of more than $740,000 in exchange for non-existent base jobs — and enlisted an unwitting U.S. soldier’s help to pull off the scam, South Korean police said.

The man identified by the surname Gang, 54, posed as a high-level base hospital official and convinced 27 people during the past six years to hand him a total of 800 million won, Uiwang Police Station officials told Stars and Stripes.

Gang forged Army documents and took his victims on tours of Yongsan Garrison, Camp Humphreys and other areas to help sell his story, police said.

Gang also convinced a U.S. soldier at Camp Stanley that the victims were prospective employees, then had the soldier interview them by phone to test their English, said Jo Min-chang, of Uiwang’s Economic Crime Investigation Team.

Police said they do not think the soldier knew he was participating in fraud.

Gang worked at Camp Stanley for more than 20 years before being fired last month, Jo said. He had most recently served as an ambulance driver.

When the victims began to complain about employment delays, police say Gang issued forged apology letters that used official Army logos, fonts and style, if not necessarily proper grammar.

“We would like to make an apology for any damage to who are newly employed and promoted because of a conflict between the 8th Army and Korean members of the 8th Army,” one of the letters read, according to a sample obtained from Uiwang police. “We, the 8th Army, are sincerely doing our best to make smooth recovery. And therefore, we would like to wish domestic bliss.”

In other letters, he blamed North Korean nuclear threats and bilateral defense budgets for causing delays, police said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.