From wharms@soback.kornet.nm.kr
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 05:41:18 -0900
From: Bill Harms 
To: moogoonghwa@UCSD.EDU
Subject: RE: SOFA legal issues

Dear Mr. Hyuk-Kyo Suh,

        Thank you for your bringing up the issues of the impact of the US
military on civilians in Korea.

At 08:28 AM 9/17/96 -0700, Mr. Hyuk-Kyo Suh wrote:
>Dear Mr. West:
>
>Thank you for clarifying legal issues surrounding the SOFA 
>negotiations. It is a good sign that the two sides are hammering out 
>the differences to find mutually-agreeable treaty.  It would have been 
>better if negotiations started much earlier. Meanwhile, the historical 
>fact is that despite growing crimes on Korean civilians committed by US 
>soldiers, the prosecution rate is the lowest among host countries 
>(around 3-5 percent, I think).

Someone please present a study to back up this claim. I am interested hard
cold figures on this matter.

>For various reasons-- the legal issues 
>in SOFA, reluctance of ROK authorities to pursue prosecution even when 
>they can do so, and the tendency of authorities to put these incidents 
>"under the rug" (so as not to disrupt amicable US-SK relations)-- many 
>crimes committed by US soldiers went unpunished. Only with recent 
>organized campaigns by citizens' groups have these incidents come to 
>national attention in Korea.  

What are the names of these "citizens' groups?" I think they will find that
many Americans agree with them. 

>They are raising various issues 
>concerning the impact n civilians of US military presence in Korea: 
>relocation of military bases, environmental cleanup of bases, 
>compensation of damages during military exercises, noise pollution of 
>fighter jets, damages done by live ammunition practices, etc. More and 
>more, US military is being held accountable for their actions in 
>Korea.  
>

Although the efforts may not be 100 percent satisfactory to everyone, the US
has made efforts to satisfy the concerns of the impact on civilians in
Germany and Japan. Maybe the concerns of the Korean citizens can be
addressed the same way.

Mr. Suh, I am also interested in what you think the relationship between the
US and Korea should be. What do you think the future holds? Although it is
important to discuss the negative impact of the relationship, at the same
time I think it is rather parochrial to ignore the positive parts of the
relationship. That is, unless the relationship is not considered to be
important to begin with.

Bill Harms






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