PYEONGTAEK, South Korea (Yonhap News) – South Korean police said Tuesday that they plan to indict seven U.S. soldiers without physical detention on charges of handcuffing three South Koreans.
The seven soldiers are accused of forcefully putting handcuffs on three South Korean civilians in a dispute over a parking violation in a bustling area near a U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, a provincial city 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on July 5. The soldiers then tried to haul the three, including a 35-year-old man surnamed Yang, to the base, when the local police intervened and secured their release.
"Police on Monday sought oversight by the Pyeongtaek branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on seven soldiers and recommended that they be indicted without physical detention," a police officer at the Pyeongtaek Police Station said.
Under the current law, police can initiate preliminary investigations on their own, but should seek oversight by the prosecution over the course of the investigations.
The news of U.S. service members forcefully handcuffing local citizens incited protests from civic groups and caused public uproar in the country where people still harbor mixed feelings about the U.S. military presence.
The commander of U.S. Forces Korea soon apologized for the incident, expressing his "sincere apology to the individuals and community affected by the incident."
The police said they questioned both the soldiers and the civilians over the circumstances that led to the handcuffing, including whether the soldiers had the right to enforce parking regulations outside the base.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the three-year Korean War that ended in 1953.
