[Editorial] U.S. military discipline

News pictures showing a U.S. Army general in camouflage fatigues on a nightly inspection of the Itaewon district of Seoul taking a team of MPs along were impressive enough to convince the host Koreans of earnest efforts of U.S. military authorities to keep their young soldiers from making trouble. Lt. Gen. John Johnson, commanding general of the Eighth U.S. Army, was personally checking how well the reinstated curfew on the U.S. Forces in Korea was being enforced.

The Korea-wide curfew for all U.S. service members except for those living off-post was ordered by USFK Commander Gen. James Thurman last Friday after two alleged rape cases involving American soldiers were reported in Dongducheon and Seoul. The USFK curfew, which had been lifted in July 2010 after nearly nine years in force was re-imposed “to assess current conditions, mission requirements, and potential force protection concerns,” according to a U.S. command statement.

The USFK personnel are not allowed out of their camps from midnight to 5 a.m. on weekdays and from 3 to 5 a.m. on weekends and the curfew will be enforced for a 30-day period. The restriction will have only limited impact on USFK life considering the rather short time affected, but U.S. military authorities seem to have a statistical backing to expect much from it.

USFK figures made available through military websites indicate that criminal convictions of U.S. military personnel in Korea rose sharply to 128 in 2010, compared to 87 in 2009 and 66 in 2008. Command analysts believe that the lifting of curfew in July last year offers an explanation for the sudden increase in the number of offenses and convictions.

Gen. Johnson hinted that the curfew might be extended after assessment of the situation. The second highest officer in the USFK reportedly expressed a deep sense of responsibility for recurring sex crimes against underage girls. The Eighth Army had issued a statement of apology on Friday after Korean police arrested a 21-year-old American soldier in connection with a rape and theft that took place in Mapo on Sept. 17.

Seoul police handed the suspect over to U.S. military authorities. They will keep him in custody until the Korean prosecution indicts him and requests his turnover under the provisions of the Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. In the Dongducheon case, a 2nd U.S. Infantry Division soldier has been indicted by the Korean prosecution and is in Korean jail.

Quick apologies, the curfew and the commander’s night-time inspection of Itaewon establishments show the U.S. authorities’ great caution not to allow crimes attributed to U.S. personnel to cause another flare-up of anti-Americanism here. They must now understand that the regrettable aftermaths of the deaths of two Dongducheon middle school girls trampled by a U.S. armored vehicle in June 2002 were due as much to what Koreans perceived as a denial of justice in the U.S. military trial as to the deaths themselves.

The absolute majority of Koreans are aware of the importance of alliance with the United States, appreciate the presence of U.S. forces here and understand the difficulties experienced by U.S. personnel serving in a foreign country. They also know that the stationing of the 28,500-strong USFK is for the national interests of both Korea and the United States, hence they demand complete fairness in handling crimes committed by U.S. personnel against Koreans.

Korean law enforcement officers still believe that the SOFA, signed in 1965 and revised in 1991 and 2001, contains unequal provisions, particularly regarding the procedures of holding criminal suspects in custody and the types of crimes for which Korea can exercise criminal jurisdiction. Government authorities of the two allies need to review the adequacy of every clause of the bilateral pact in accordance with the changes of circumstances before any unfortunate incidents drive them into taking action under the pressure of agitated public opinion.

On the other hand, U.S. commanders are called upon to make utmost efforts for troop education so that they can better understand the country and people they came to help, respect their hosts, and perfectly abide by the Korean legal system.