President Kim calls for new pact on U.S. troops

President Kim calls for new pact on U.S. troops

Lim Chang-Won, Agence France-Presse, Seoul

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Tuesday called for
revision of an accord under which South Korea cedes its judicial
jurisdiction in crimes involving U.S. troops.

The order came in response to growing anti-U.S. protests over
the acquittal of two U.S. soldiers who crushed two schoolgirls to
death with a 50-ton military vehicle in a road accident in June.

"Through this incident, South Korea and the United States will
have to learn to cooperate more closely and improve the Status of
Forces Agreement (SOFA)," Kim said at a cabinet meeting.

He said the two countries could develop their alliance to "a
future-oriented one" by revising the accord so that South Korea
exercises greater jurisdiction on crimes committed by U.S.
soldiers.

The SOFA governs the legal status of U.S. troops stationed
under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean
War.

It was revised in 1991 and again last year but many South
Koreans believe the treaty is unfair. Under the accord U.S.
troops come under U.S. jurisdiction for crimes committed while on
duty.

Opposition presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang joined Kim's
call for SOFA revision and also demanded that U.S. President
George W. Bush make an explicit and direct apology to South
Koreans over the deaths.

"We will take firm measures toward revising the SOFA as the
Korean people cannot understand the acquittal," Lee said.

The issue will be raised during a security meeting this week
between U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and South
Korean Defense Minister Lee Jun.

The annual meeting in Washington on Thursday is expected to be
dominated by global security issues such as the U.S.-led war on
terrorism and North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Kim, who is to step down in February after a presidential
election on Dec. 19, asked the cabinet to come up with
"comprehensive measures" to prevent a recurrence of the June 13
deaths.

But he urged South Koreans to moderate their anger, saying the
United States is "our very important ally" and a deterrent to war
in Northeast Asia.

Calls for revision of the SOFA treaty mounted after a U.S.
military court cleared the two U.S. soldiers of negligent
homicide two weeks ago. Activists here have demanded a retrial of
the soldiers who left for the United States last week.

Bush has offered an apology for the deaths through the U.S.
embassy in Seoul, but the gesture has failed to soothe public
anger here.

Many Koreans are unhappy that the soldiers walked free and
that no one has been held legally responsible for the deaths of
the girls. Under the Korean criminal justice system, the soldiers
would almost certainly have been jailed.

On Tuesday, 31 lawmakers from rival political parties
submitted to the National Assembly a draft resolution demanding
revision of the accord.

"The SOFA should be amended in a way that can let the Korean
government exercise jurisdiction over crimes involving American
soldiers," the resolution said. It also called for an open and
direct apology from Bush.

Anti-Americanism, simmering among activist groups in the past,
is on the rise, with protesters calling for the withdrawal of
37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

Analysts trace the recent surge in anti-Americanism to the
hardline stance toward North Korea adopted by Bush, and fears
that the U.S. military presence here is prolonging the division
of the Korean peninsula, the last Cold War frontier.

At Kim's request, South Korean government officials began
reviewing the accord on Tuesday.

Government officials, however, conceded that it is practically
impossible for the Kim administration to revise the pact before
it leaves office early next year.