By Lee Hyo-sik
Five children of U.S. military servicemen here have been apprehended for assaulting a Korean man, and stealing cash as well as other valuables from him in early September, police said Sunday.
The Yongsan Police Station in central Seoul said that the adolescents, aged between 15 and 20, followed a 27-year-old Korean man and beat him up in Itaewon on Sept. 4. They robbed him of cash, a cellular phone and other valuables worth 200,000 won ($180).
Police said a resident in the area reported the crime. After viewing surveillance cameras monitoring nearby streets and questioning eye-witnesses, police officers arrested the five offenders.
“Three of them were found to be minors. In accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between the United States and Korea, we handed them over to U.S. military police after questioning them about the alleged crime,” an officer said.
Under the accord, the Korean law enforcement authorities are required to hand over U.S. soldiers and their family members committing crimes here to U.S. military authorities.
The incident was made public a day after the U.S. Armed Forces here issued a late-night curfew keeping soldiers inside bases for a month following a series of crimes by servicemen.
On Friday, Gen. James Thurman, Commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said all U.S. military personnel will be banned from leaving the bases from midnight to 5 a.m. on weekdays. On Saturdays and Sundays, and other public holidays, they will be prohibited from leaving their barracks between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.
The latest curfew, the first since July 2010, came after a series of recent sexual assaults on Korean women by U.S. servicemen.
Police said last Friday that a U.S. soldier was investigated for allegedly entering a teenage girl’s room, raping and stealing from her. The 21 year-old army private was affiliated with the 1st Signal Brigade of the Eighth Army of U.S. Forces.
According to the police, he entered a one-room apartment in Mapo-gu, Seoul, at around 5:45 a.m. on Sept. 17 and raped the girl, 18, and stole her laptop.
The soldier is currently in the custody of the U.S. Forces. After being indicted, however, he will be handed over to Korea under the SOFA agreement, police said.
On Thursday, another 21-year-old soldier, assigned to the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division in Dongducheon, was indicted on charges of raping an 18-year-old in her apartment near his unit at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 24.
Following the incidents, civic groups have organized anti-U.S. demonstrations across the country, demanding that SOFA be revised to enable Korean law enforcement authorities to more effectively investigate U.S. soldiers who break laws here. They also called for harsher punishment against American offenders.