SOUTH KOREA
Killings of young girls by U.S. troops ignites rage
By Sharon Ayling
Koreans have mounted nearly daily protests for the past five
weeks demanding that the U.S. military hand over two U.S.
soldiers whose armored vehicle killed two south Korean teenage
girls on June 13.
On July 14, 1,000 activists and students rallied near the
U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division base in Uijongbu, on the
northern outskirts of Seoul, chanting, "We oppose the U.S.
military!" They burned a giant U.S. flag. Protesters called for
withdrawal of Pentagon troops from south Korea and for
President George W. Bush to apologize for the deaths. The
demonstrators briefly scuffled with south Korean riot police
who stopped them from entering the base to deliver a protest
letter.
On July 17, about 500 south Korean high school students,
some in their school uniforms, sang anti-U.S. songs and tossed
dozens of red paper planes over the base's 10-foot wire fence
that carried the message, "U.S. troops out of Korea! Give up
jurisdiction!"
Many thousands have signed a petition to the commander of
the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division that reads in part, "At about
10:40 a.m. on June 13, an armored vehicle belonging to your
U.S. 2nd Infantry Division crushed dead two innocent young
girls, Shin Hyo Soon and Shim Mi Sun. We believe this incident
was not an accident caused by a driver mistake. It was caused
by your long-standing practice of safeguarding American
vehicles at any costs with little respect for the lives of the
Korean people. ... Let the Korean court prosecute not only the
guilty driver but also his superiors."
The vehicle was a 60-ton AVLM, used to clear mines. It was
part of a convoy traveling to a training exercise on Highway
56, a two-lane road winding past rice fields and small farms.
The road, which has no sidewalk or shoulder, is a main pathway
for pedestrians in the area.
At 12-feet wide, the AVLM was wider than the lane it was in
and so it extended about 30 inches off the road. At the time
that the girls were crushed, another convoy of U.S. military
vehicles was coming in the opposite direction.
Military officials said that they are not pulling AVLMs off
the road in Korea and declared Highway 56 a critical link for
their troops. The exercise was not canceled as a result of the
accident.
The outraged community is demanding that the U.S. military
take measures to prevent similar accidents, compensate the
victims' families, stop holding training operations near
civilians and revise the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
Under SOFA, the Korean authorities cannot investigate the
tragedy because the 37,000 U.S. soldiers stationed there are
immune from prosecution if they commit crimes against the
Korean people.
Following days of protest demonstrations, the U.S. military
announced on July 5 it had filed negligent homicide charges
against the two soldiers in the vehicle, reversing an earlier
decision not to court-martial the GIs. However, on July 10
south Korea's Justice Ministry requested that the U.S. military
give up jurisdiction over the two soldiers. The Pentagon has
yet to respond.
The Korean movement is asking for international solidarity
actions, including a letter-writing campaign to President Bush
and joint demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies and
consulates on July 31. More information about this campaign can
be found on the web sites www.koreatruthcommission.org and
www.iacenter.org.
Reprinted from the Aug. 1, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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