A Fair Trial for USFK is a Guilty Verdict -- to

Appease Korean Hatred and "Pride"

I put the water dumping case with the review of the verdict reaction for a purpose.  If you want to understand the Korean use of the death of the two girls, you should read about it also. 

The foreign press and people new to Korea tend to look at each new case as isolated, and imagining the horrible way the two girls died, you might give more credit to the Korean over-reaction than they deserve. 

After you read how an equally hot spike in hate that lasted for months came from a very minor environmental infraction, you will better understand how the death of the two girls was just a tactical tool in a much longer strategy of hate.

The Korean reaction to the trial of the two U.S. soldiers was predictable.  It was willfully blind of facts, extremely emotional, and spread throughout the society.

The most important area to look at is how the Korean politicians used it in the run up to the presidential election.

(This article is from the Korea Times which has recently started requiring registration to access its site in an effort to keep its pages from being misused.)

"It is regrettable that the U.S. soldier was found not guilty, though a U.S. military probe had already acknowledged negligent homicide charges against him," Nam said.

(GNP spokesperson Nam Kyung-phil - The GNP is Lee Hoi-Chang's party who has long been in the lead to be the next president.)

For another look at the process -- of how the US should understand the Korean need to satsiate its hate -- read this editorial by a major Korean daily on why the US reaction to three of its soldiers being beaten was "misplaced"

A Korea Times article whose link I don't have.

The project is timely and far-sighted in that about 200 children are killed annually in traffic accidents that take place in school zones.

For instance, a total of 490 children met their fate in traffic mishaps in 1999 alone, and 228 of them lost their lives in the school zones.

According to the report based on a survey of the accidental death rate of children below the age of 15, Korea took the first place with 25.6 per every 100,000, followed by 6.1 of Britain and Italy. The lowest was 5.2 of Sweden.

"Accidents while walking" are mainly responsible for such a highest rate as they account for 71 percent of the total, compared with Sweden's 13 percent, and the Netherlands' 18 percent.

(MDP spokesman) said the judgment could have been predicted when the United States Forces Korea (USFK) rejected Seoul's request to relinquish jurisdiction over the trial.

"The not-guilty verdict amounts to trickery against the whole Korean people, an insult to God and an outrage to both heaven and earth," said Lee Mi-Kyung, spokesman of the Millennium Democratic Party, in a statement. "We cannot accept this fraudulent verdict, which is unimaginable in any law-abiding country.

The MDP, founded by President Kim Dae-jung, decided to form a special committee to respond to the verdict, while studying legal options.

The MDP is the same party that sacked one of its top spokesmen when he was quoted as having warned the Bush administration during a trip to Washington to "not interfere" with its candidate's presidential election.

The statements from the main political parties were catering to the will of the Korean people. 

It also shows how blind Koreans are to the hypocrisy expats can easily see when we know that Korean soldiers are ALWAYS tried in military courts, would never have been charged with a crime in a similar accident, and that Korean traffic accidents rarely ever lead to criminal charges.

The Korea Times article also helped put the word out about a bounty on U.S. a soldier's head.

The protesters distributed leaflets that read, "Wanted: Sgt. Walker, Murderer of Two Korean Schoolgirls," offering a five-million-won ($4,100) reward. Similar leaflets about Nino were also passed out.

Look here to see how closely the Korean media identifies with the Korean activists (and I can assure you from my many years of teaching here -so do the bulk of Korean adults):

"If the soldier is innocent, who on earth killed the two girls? Not a single South Korean will accept the verdict," said Lee So-hee, secretary general of a civic group called the National Movement for Eradication of Crime by U.S. Troops in Korea.

Here is the lead editorial by the Times media group:

It was almost comedic for an American solider accused by the U.S. military prosecution of negligent homicide to be declared not guilty by a jury of American military personnel.

At minimum, the Bush administration and U.S. military leaders in Korea should respond to these questions: If no American soldiers were guilty, who should be held responsible for the sudden deaths of the teenage girls?

The unfair trial could have been a "superficial stunt to diffuse rising anger among the people," as claimed by the leader of a civic group, the National Movement for Eradication of Crime by U.S. Troops in Korea.

The same Times article and other reports also led the Korean public along the path of willful ignorance:

"We cannot understand why a U.S. general fueled Koreans anger by hastily maintaining the trial was fair, open and impartial. He should have expressed deep regret for the incident and solemnly promised to use every means to prevent a recurrence before protecting the criminal suspects under his control.

In the public statement he mentions, as in virtually every statement by USFK and the Embassy, there WAS (another) apology AND has stated often that changes in saftey proceedures have been taken.

The Choson Ilbo lead editorial also showed a common idea in Korea about what a fair trial would have meant.

Although we had not expected much, we had hoped that the US martial court might reach a verdict that showed a little understanding of Korean sentiment. That hope turned out to be misplaced.

Considering the sensitivity of the case, we had hoped for a verdict reached in good faith. Countless civic groups were loudly voicing animosity, while the majority of Koreans were waiting quietly for the ruling of the American court martial. However, with this verdict, there is nothing to say to civic groups for a composed attitude.

We cannot say anything to console the souls of the two who died young.

Damn the evidence!  Couldn't USFK see that what was important was appeasing the emotional hatred of the Korean people?

The Jongang Ilbo - another of the largest Korean print media outlets - wrote this lead editorial:

There is a saying that blood is thicker than water, yet if nobody takes responsibility for the loss of two lives, matters have gone too far.

It was aggravated by the indifferent response of the 8th Army, which aroused strong anti-American sentiment among the Korean people.

We are concerned that people and activist groups, which demanded sincere apologies from the U.S. military authority, plus compensation and a waiver of jurisdiction in favor of a Korean court, will react violently.

The root of the problem lies in the inequity of the Status of Forces Agreement. Under the agreement, which is one-sided and contains unequal clauses, it is impossible to stop a U.S. military court from delivering acquittals.

The United States should remember that keeping the alliance with Korea and respecting the Korean people's sense of pride is beneficial to American interests.

Again, the media promoting the common, misinformed idea that USFK has never taken responsibility for the accident, apologized, nor given the families over a hundred thousand dollars each in compensation.

All political parties in Korea vowed to use the case to fight for another revision of the SOFA.

The judge in the Water Dumping case throw out the prosecution's request of a fine (which is what happens to Koreans with the same level of illegal dumping) and ordered a criminal trial cited the level of public outrage as well.

Another judge suspended the probation sentence of an activist who stromed a USFK training area and resisted arrest citing the man's having "brought out to the Korean public" the many USFK environmental "problems" and the unfair SOFA.

A day or two after the bounty was put on the two soldier's heads and the Korean media simply reported the fact and thus spreading the idea, 20 something young activists fire bombed a minor USFK installation in Korea.

Not a worthy target, but the press was there, and it made a good impression in the society.

At 7:50am, more than twenty university students gathered and threw more than 10 petrol bombs in front of Camp Grey in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. They also scattered 40 pamphlets reading "The case is over but the judgement is not" and "American soldiers in Korea should be aware," and then fled to Daebang Station.

Another article reported on how the parents and groups mobilized the younger generations to make sure they learn who to hate and how to hate them. You can see the fire bombing, school protests and other videos from the main index page:

Last Saturday, about 700 secondary-school students and other demonstrators staged a protest rally near a huge U.S. military base in Yongsan, central Seoul.

Near Seoul's City Hall, an area frequented by foreign residents and tourists from five of the city's major deluxe hotels, a Western-style bistro put a sign on its windows saying, "Not welcome The Americans."

"I refuse to provide any form of convenience or satisfy the appetite of any American customer -- not even a drop of water," said Lee Chang-yong, owner of the restaurant Zeno.

"One of the two soldiers had recently applied for a discharge and the other has expressed hope to be transferred to another country, as he had stayed in Korea more than a year," the aide said. "The USFK is not in a position to interfere with their decisions, as their trials have ended."

There is no way the U.S. government is going to make changes in the SOFA to allow Koreans to put US soldiers in jail for accidents that Korean people would not stand trial for. Nor will they allow the Koreans to put people in jail for minor environmental problems or pay huge sums of money for such problems when the Koreans don't demand the same from their own military, corporations, or small businesses.

And the Koreans know this. The SOFA is the best tactical issue to promote the hate. It does not go away, and it wins over almost all Koreans to the hate-USFK team.

The current Korean administration did give clear messages, but two days too late and after they had spoken more from their heart the first day. Besides, the political parties and lawmakers were already getting the call out, the press was promoting it like a good free press does -- represents the will and view of the people.

The Korea Herald editor criticized the weak government not standing up to the US to voice Korea's will. This is part of the attacks on "serving the Great" theme that is a major part of Korean society. The Herald editor also sunk to new lows:

It would be extremely unwise for Washington to fail to address the voices of healthy criticism in Korean society that has made notable strides in many ways since the two nations signed for the bilateral alliance.

It thereby determined that nobody would take legal responsibility for the tragic demise of two innocent souls.

(She ignores the monetary compensation, which is the way Koreans handle such accidents, but much of the press ignores this aspect of the case. Also note in the picture above, Korean pride swelled greatly with the World Cup soccer performance by the Korean team, and it easily transferred into anti-US energy -- they are giving the US "the red card.")

An immense pity is that both the U.S. military and the Korean government instigate desperation and hostility among Koreans through inappropriate handling what seems a tragic road accident.

(She has no shame even for willful lies. Pretending that she and the Koreans would have defind this as a simple accident IF it had not been for the way USFK handled it. New low.)

The jury reached verdicts based on contradicting testimonies made by different witnesses about a single incident. Despite the reportedly inconsistent testimonies, retrials are out of the question because the court-martial rules out appeals from the prosecution. Dubious criminal proceedings have thus denied justice to two poor young girls and their families.

Go figure. Conflicting testimony at a trial.

But this is the kind of argument that wins in Korea. Distortion, lies, and emotion. And this is from the major press in Korea. It echoes and encourages the common attitude in Korea.