I will eventually get to the new news in this piece -- which is about the justice system for Korean soldiers.
But first, I will launch into an extended digression to point out for those unfamiliar with Korea why this story on how Korean justice handles its own soliders is important in the US/USFK relationship with Korean society.
One of the selling points for anti-USFK views that tends to reach beyond Korean people has always been the fact that USFK members have long been held by USFK police forces. USFK has always exercised jurisdiction over most crimes involving US soldiers (and most of those crimes are either parking or motor vehicle related or GI on GI infractions).
Until recently (the last two years or so (2001-2004?)), USFK held all defendants in major crimes against a Korean(s) until the verdict was rendered. Now, on what is supposed to be a case by case basis, the Korean court can demand jurisdiction right away before the case goes to trial. (I believe the recent Knifing Incident was handled this way).
Before this change, I think for about 10 years or so (the early 1990s to early 2000s), USFK held custody of GIs accused of major crimes against a Korean(s) throughout the trial and all appeals ----- but even then ------ and this is crucial if you have talked to any number of Korean adults much ----- the GIs found guilty were still put in Korean jails. ----- Usually in a special wing of a Korean prison set aside for the dozen or so GIs being held long term in Korea for major crimes, but still a Korean prison with Korean personnel.
And according to somewhere on the O'Sullivan Kunsand site, a GI was found guilty in Korean criminal (civil) court and put in a Korean prison as far back as the last 1970s.
So, it is a big huge f-ing myth ---- that even not particularly anti-American Koreans have been spoon fed to believe ---- that "GIs who do crimes in Korea just fly away to America and escape justice!!"
Even when I first got to Korea and knew nothing, it didn't take me long to find problems with the "common" (VERY common) idea of GIs escaping justice.
It was what I call a "mind-block" issue --
By only asking questions to learn ---- I found that the vast majority of Koreans believe American soldiers are never punished and get away, literally, with murder in South Korean society.
But, as I asked more questions, like examples --------- I found something curious and ultimately very frustrating for me, because I liked my Korean adult students (I was teaching only adults at this time), but I could not understand how they could be so obviously B-L-I-N-D.
Why? You might ask........Because, it was very obvious to me that each of the "infamous crimes" they came up with ------ came up with to justify their opinion ---- were IN FACT examples where US soldiers were --- in fact ----- tried in a Korean civilian criminal court, found guilty, and put in prison in Korea.
I really couldn't grasp this. In class, I would sometimes rub my head. How could these bright people use as examples items that obsolutely proved they knew --- somewhere in their brains ---- that the ultimate conclusion they held so dearly ------- was plainly wrong.
But, even in these classes, when I tried to show them that they can't use as evidence how US soldiers get away with murder in Korea soldiers who were in fact found guilty and were still being held in Korean prisons, they stuggled with it, but couldn't change what they "knew to be true" ---- that US soldiers get away with murder and always have.
This continued as long as I taught adults. Each time a new murder or violent crime by a GI came up, and I would follow the case, and some student wanted to talk about how bad GIs are and why Korea is so anti-American, and the "crimes by the bastard GIs" would come up, and someone would ultimately say GIs never go to Korean courts ----- I'd take out a folder of the stories I'd collected over the years, and first I'd start by asking for examples of the terrible crimes, and I'd point out how the Markle case and the 1995 subway incident and so on actually proved the opposite of what they were claiming. And then I'd get to the documentation from the Korean press. And maybe I could get some to move from totally convinced to confused, but I rarely converted anybody.
So, for those of you who aren't familiar with Korea, the idea that GI criminals get away with murder (literally) is held throughout the society.
And beyond the society, it wins over many expats who don't look into the matter much.
One of the common saying Koreans use to win over each other and a good number of the expats is, "Who in the world could possibly believe the US military could judge itself?"
It really is a compelling statement when they put it out there the way they do. But, if you bother to think about it a minute or two, it really doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense.
Why?
Because, can you think of a nation off the top of your head that doesn't have a partically seperate justice system for the military and civilians? I can't....
In the US, soldiers can be tried in a civilian criminal court depending on the nature of the crime and where it took place. There are different and sometimes overlapping jurisdictions when soldiers in the US are involved, and I think that is the norm in developed nations.
It is also the norm, I believe, for nations who send troops in peace keeping or other missions to another nation to exercise similar seperate and/or overlapping jurisdiction between their normal military justice system and the host nation's criminal system.
People like to jump to the conclusion that the USFK relationship with SK over criminal matters is some outrage to international law --- but it isn't if you just look around.
I have told and told people ------ Korean soldiers NEVER go before a civilian criminal court. Even the armed bank robber who used a machine gun and shot some people ------- extremely rare in Korea --------- dissappeared from the news when he was arrested and handed over to the military police.
An article today gave me even more insights into this issue --
The military prosecution, currently attached to each military unit above the division level, would be consolidated and come under the direct control of the Defense Ministry. The move gives the military prosecution independence when conducting an investigation, because it does not fall under the command of the unit to which it is attached.
Interesting. I just know the basics of the US military judicial system, but we generally believe in America that it is much faster and often harsher than the civilian criminal system. And I've never heard people suggest it is tainted by interference by the chain of command.
This is even more true considering the noise over the right to appoint prosecutors, which was in commanders' hands. Until now, because of this military justice system, transparency issues keep surfacing in suspicious deaths in the military; commanding officers are thought to have influenced investigations.
There is a much broader background to the above statement that those unfamiliar with Korea will not know. I'll try to be bried just to give a sense of it -- Until the 1990s, South Korea was ruled by strict former military leaders and the military was very powerful in the society as a whole. In short, it tended at times to be pretty dictatorial. Even after the flowering of real democracy in South Korea, the military itself was a harsh place for the largely conscript (draftee) military.
I have read in books by former USFK officers and even from some US soldiers personally that it wasn't just a few years ago (say 10 or so) that you could find a Korean officer setting an example to the other troops by shooting a screw up. Really....And these deaths seem to have often been termed "suicides" in the offical papers.
I can't remember the book, but one US col. was checking on bunkers with his Korean counterpart, and they found a couple of US soldiers asleep in theirs, and the col chewed their asses out. Then they walked over the Korean bunker next to it, and they found the two Korean soldiers asleep, and the Korean col pulled out his pistol, shot one of them in the back of the head, then had the other soldier who just woke up and shit his pants at the same time - carry the dead man's body outside and throw it on top of the bunker ----- as a sign.
I believe this story was from the late 1980s............
Things have changed, but the Korean military is still harsh, and that is why Korean men generally loath it.