November 26, 2002
S. Korean Activists Break Into U.S. Base
By THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS
Filed at 6:10 a.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Dozens of
activists broke into a U.S. military base
Tuesday to protest last week's acquittals of
two American soldiers involved in the deaths
of two Korean girls.
Some 50 protesters entered Camp Red Cloud,
north of Seoul, by cutting through a wire
fence on a hillside, said Lt. Col. Steven
Boylan, a spokesman for the 8th U.S. Army.
Boylan said the activists chained
themselves together and marched inside the
base toward the front gate shouting ``U.S.
troops out of Korea!''
There were no clashes between the intruders
and American soldiers, he said. The protesters
were apprehended by South Korean police.
The protesters, mostly students, are being
questioned at several police stations, said a
police official in Uijongbu, on the northern
outskirts of Seoul.
Last week, Sgt. Fernando Nino and Sgt. Mark
Walker were acquitted of negligent homicide
charges in the deaths of the two 13-year-old
school girls, who were hit June 13 by the
soldiers' armored vehicle.
The acquittals prompted an outcry from
South Korean activists, who called the trials
a sham.
Later Tuesday, South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung warned of ``stern measures'' against
violent protests, referring to a demonstration
Monday during which students hurled firebombs
into a U.S. military base in Seoul.
The U.S. military, in a news release, said:
``Although the procedures followed in the
courts martial were consistent with our
longstanding and widely accepted U.S. military
judicial process, it is clear that the process
is not clearly understood by many in the
Korean process.''
Walker and Nino, who belong to the 2nd U.S.
Infantry Division, were on a training mission
when their vehicle struck the girls on a
narrow rural road.
Since the soldiers' acquittals, South
Korean political parties have called for
revising a U.S.-South Korean military accord
to give South Korean more jurisdiction in
cases involving U.S. soldiers.
The U.S. military, however, said 82 percent
of crimes committed by its personnel this year
had been subject to South Korean jurisdiction.
Currently, the U.S. military has
jurisdictional rights over American soldiers
accused of crimes while on duty, though it can
allow South Korea to try them on a
case-by-case basis.
About 37,000 American soldiers are based in
South Korea as a deterrent
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