Two Korean girls killed by U.S. military vehicle
Two 13-year-old Korean girls were run over by a United States Army bridge carrier Thursday morning, June 13th, in Hyochon Village near Camp Red Cloud, 15 miles north of Seoul.
Source : Base21
△ Protest demonstration in front of US Army Camp in Eujung-Bu on June 20th [Video Click here]
By Terry Park/Staff Reporter
parkterry@hotmail.com
Seoul, Korea--Two 13-year-old Korean girls were run over by a United States Army bridge carrier Thursday morning, June 13th, in Hyochon Village near Camp Red Cloud, 15 miles north of Seoul.
Shin Hyo-soon and Shim Mi-sun were walking to a friend's birthday party when they were struck and killed by the military vehicle. According to Stars and Stripes, South Korean police identified the driver as Sgt. Mark Walker, 36, from 2nd ID B Company, 44th Engineering Battalion. The bridge carrier was part of a large convoy traveling from Camp Howze to the Twin Bridges training area to participate in an army exercise named "Strike ARTEP" (Army Readiness Training Evaluation Program).
Col. John Macdonald, 2nd ID chief of staff, visited the families at the hospital to express regret for the incident, including an undetermined amount of monetary compensation for suffering, loss, and injuries, but not admission of guilt. South Korean police and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division military police are still investigating how the accident occurred.
Meanwhile, the "All-People Council for National Reconciliation and Cooperation" released a statement on June 15th, condemning the U.S. troops for deliberately driving the armored car over the two girls. They also chastized the U.S. army for implying in their earlier statements that the ones to blame for the tragic incident were the girls.
Stars and Stripes also reported a self-described "village leader" rejecting apologies by the U.S. army, demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued an official statement through the Korean Central News Agency calling for the termination of the U.S.-South Korea Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, which gives a high level of protection to U.S. soliders accused of crimes against South Koreans.
According to the website of The National Campaign for Eradication of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea, "Statistically, people bound by SOFA (soldiers, civilian components, their families and their relatives) have committed 2-3 crimes against Korean citizens a day. Hence there have been over 100,000 cases of criminal acts since 1945. Nevertheless, Korean courts have only judged around 4% of these crimes (confined to US soldiers). In most other cases, U.S. soldiers who have committed crimes against the Korean people, have been released without punishment or due compensation to the victims."
In addition, the United States has been accused by various human rights organizations in both South Korea and the U.S. of having committed war crimes against civilians during the Korean War, most notably the infamous No Gun Ri massacre, in which over 300 civilians were killed, as reported by the Associated Press two years ago.
More details of the incident can be found in related articles.
*** Shim Mi-sun
*** Shin Hyo-soon
*** June 28th demonstration pictures
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