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GI Crimes Myth Overview The Big Picture It was not unusual to hear nice, intelligent Korean adults of all ages say as a major of fact, "GIs are never held to justice in Korea. They just fly away to American, and there is nothing we can do about it." Besides being accepted as gospel by Koreans of all ages, it was also taken as a given by Koreans of all stripe -- pro-American, anti-American, neutral, and non-political alike. What was hardest to accept about this conventional wisdom was that the seeds of information to the contrary of this myth were clearly available in their head. When you hear this wisdom about GI crimes, just ask the speaker to give you some examples to help you understand. If you press, they will tell you of a couple of infamous murders and other crimes. If you check, even if you press them for details, you will probably see that they do in fact know the GIs in these crimes were --- arrested by Koreans, put on trial by Koreans, and found guilty by Korean judges. Today, unlike when I was teaching Korean adults, the person telling you about one key reason Korean society is anti-USFK / anti-US is the fact GIs get away with crimes and Korea can't do anything about it --------- they can point to the 2002 Tank Accident/Murder and the 2000 Water Poisoning of 10 Million Seoul Citizens. You can read my review of those two cases and decide for yourself if they are great tragedies of justice that excuse the myth of "no" GIs "ever" facing "Korean justice." But, beyond those two cases, the examples of bastard GI Crimes Koreans have been able to tell me about have ALWAYS turned out to be examples that prove the exact opposite of what they desperately want to believe -- like the 1993 horrible Markle Murder Case. Markle still sits in a Korean prison to this day (Dec. 2005 -- latest update - he was released in 2006). The murder was brutal, but the GI was convicted, and in a Korean civilian criminal court, (something a Korean soldier criminal never faces, because they are always tried by the Korean military court system). To cut this short, I can easily show you how utterly preposterous the GI Crimes Myth is in Korea by noting a Dec. 2003 editorial in one of Korea's top media conglomerates that produce The Korean Times.
Headline :
First Prosecution
of US Soldier
It boggles the mind. How could a man paid a good salary, and having risen through the ranks as a journalist, not remember at least the most famous murders that led to convictions? In a word : Easily. It makes no sense. I had a few long time students who were with me through more than 1 well publicized GI Crimes - crimes in which we watched the criminal soldier get convicted in Korean court. But, when the new one rose, these same students still found they could say nothing but, "GIs are never held to justice in Korea. This will be the first time if the US government doesn't shield the soldier again...." It makes no sense. The only other time I've run across something so baffling is in the States with people who have racial prejudice and don't know it. I knew some people in high school who had one or two good friends they hung out with, invited to their home even, who were black, but they still found a way from time to time, when among white friends, that they "don't like black people." If you pressed them on it, they still couldn't get it.... It is that kind of mind block in Korea too. What I am offering in these pages is what I know about GI Crimes and what I have been able to find. The English language Korean newspapers have online archives that go back to 1998-99. Much of what I found comes from US media archives --- and keep in mind these papers don't spend much time on day to day things in South Korea beyond the geopolitical. It is a safe bet more GI Crimes came and went and were not covered by them at all. Whatever the case may be, it is undeniable the Myth of GI Crimes in Korea is unsupported and ultimately inexcusable. To think differently, you have to stretch out the hand of understanding Korean society beyond the bounds of normalcy.
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The Cases : UPDATED - 18 March 2007 - updated items in Red. Be sure to read my note below about what I think this list of crimes means - The Stats game 1967 -- Rape - 2 GIs - The first convictions of US soldiers. 1967 -- Arson and Assault 1967 -- Death by Thrown Piece of Wood 1968 -- Murder and Arson - Initial Sentence - 15 Years 1968 -- First conviction of a civilian contractor - article notes 4 cases had been decided by this date - the 3 noted above and one black market case of selling 3 diamond rings bought at the PX. 1969 -- Very short article in the Washington Post 25 Oct 1969 A10 - Leonard Livingston given 3 years in prison and 5 on probation for aggravated robbery of a taxi driver. 1970 -- Murder of a Couple in front of their 3 year old child - Death sentence given. 1971 -- Rape and Murder - Short article in the Washington Post - 7 Jan 1971 A27 -Terry A. Mathews (22) killed a Korean woman on 22 Oct 1970. He was also caught with marijuana. 1971 -- Drug Case -- Very short article in the Washington Post 16 June 1971 A2 (also a very short article in the Post on 19 Mar 1971 A22) - Robert Albrecht Jr. caught trying to sell 982 tablets of LSD. Sentenced to one year in jail --- a light sentence, in my opinion, but in most cases I've been able to compare, I've found GI cases are given much the same penalty as Koreans in the initial verdict and lowered on appeal much the same. 1977 -- Murder - As often, note on the arrest but no follow up article on the conviction found. 1993 -- Aggravated Assault of a taxi driver 1993 -- Aggravated Assault of a bar owner (female) 1994 -- Street Assault - Attempted Theft 1995 -- Infamous Subway Brawl - only case where I think a GI was unjustly convicted 1995 -- Street Altercation -- leading to monetary compensation 1996 -- Murder - Korean female prostitute - 10 year prison sentence 1997 -- Violent Domestic Assault - Korean live-in girlfriend 1998 -- Murder - bargirl 1998 -- Robbery - 2 GIs - Arrested - No follow up on trial. 1998 -- Train Assault - Fine. 2000 -- Large drug bust - 5 year sentence 2001 -- Robbery & Assault - 30 months - Dependant (not GI) - purse snatching and taxi driver 2002 -- Simple assault case 2002 -- Taxi brawl 2003 -- DUI Fatality - 3 year sentence 2004 -- May - Aggravated Assault - Sinchon Stabbing 2005 -- July - Beer bottle assault case 2005 -- Aug - Tossing man into a river reportedly for fun 2005 -- Dec - Assault and Robbery - Arrest and sentenced 2006 -- Feb - Lewd behavior on subway - with cases like this, we rarely get a follow up article noting the sentence given, but they do get sentenced. 2006 -- Nov - 2 years with suspended sentence for -Itaewon bar brawl + Assaulting a Korean police officer. This was a small case. You can read about it here and here - to read about a much bigger brawl involving foreigners and bouncers (30 Irish expats) - a huge brawl where - the police only took 3 statements and nobody was taken to the station or arrested - click here... 2007 -- Jan -- Rape and Assault on 67-Years-Old Woman - Conviction and initial sentence of 4 years. A Korean looking at a long list like this, or in the frequent street preaching displays put out in cities across South Korea, tends to naturally think, "What a bunch of bastard criminals GIs are. I always knew that, but to see it put out like this......we really need to do something about this!!"
I look at it and think --- "See, a lot of GIs have been convicted of crimes as far back as 1967. So, GIs "always" escape justice won't fly. And, if you can find me a place with 37,000 to 100,000 citizens where rapes, assaults, thefts, and even murders do not take place within a span of years, --- you should call the Guinness Book of World Records..." Think about it --- in a given year, in a city like Seoul or Wonju (250,000 people when I lived there) how many street fights, rapes, other assaults, thefts, and even murders do you think happened? Murders - maybe some years none in Wonju - but even there, over a period of 5 years??? Or, how about this? Think of the people you went to high school with. Since you graduated, how many of the people who went to the same school over the 4 years you were there ---- have been arrested for crimes from drugs, to DUI, to even murder? I went to a medium size school in Georgia with about 300 people in my graduating class. So, I guess I went to school with just a few thousand people in those 4 years. And I can think of one or two murders and a few other arrests that caught my attention, and I left this area about 5 years after high school and was gone to Korea and elsewhere for the next decade and didn't hear much news from the small town. What do Koreans expect GIs to be? 100% Angels? ......in a word.....Yes. |
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