Seoul to review U.S. troops status

Seoul to review U.S. troops status

SEOUL (AFP): South Korea decided yesterday to take a fresh look at a controversial agreement on the status of U.S. soldiers stationed here, after a series of brawls involving GIs triggered a public uproar.

The decision was made at a meeting of cabinet ministers, which was presided over by Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo and attended by the ministers of home affairs, justice, defense and the vice foreign minister.

The government also decided to expand joint U.S.-South Korean policing of GIs from one police station in Seoul to 22 police stations across the country whose jurisdictions include U.S. military bases, and to launch task forces to deal with incidents involving American servicemen.

Some 37,000 US troops are based in South Korea, most of them in front-line positions along the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone.

On Friday last week, South Korean newspapers charged that four allegedly drunk U.S. troops, and the Korean wife of one of them, assaulted a South Korean passenger on a subway train in Seoul.