By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
An armed U.S. soldier gave himself up to the authorities Friday, five hours after leaving his barracks in Pyeongtaek, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and Korean police said Friday.
The 21-year-old Korean-American soldier, assigned to a military police unit at the U.S. Osan Air Base, left the base at 11:30 p.m. Thursday carrying a 7mm pistol and 30 bullets, USFK officials and police said.
Police and USFK authorities searched the area and put up traffic blocks on nearby roads after the soldier called his wife, who lives off-base, saying he was carrying the weapon.
He then called his Korean mother at around 4:30 a.m. Friday to say he wanted to surrender, police said. He was soon transferred to the base and the gun and ammunition were confiscated by military police.
An official with the Osan base said that the man may have left the base due to conflict with his wife. There are about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, providing a deterrent against North Korea.