U.S., South Korea fail to revise military pact

U.S., South Korea fail to revise military pact

SEOUL (Reuters): South Korea and the United States have failed
to reach agreement in the latest round of talks aimed at revising
a controversial military treaty governing U.S. forces in Korea.

But a senior foreign ministry official said he hoped for a
breakthrough in altering the pact, which Seoul views as
discriminatory, before the end of U.S. President Bill Clinton's
administration next month.

"The two sides made some progress on most issues, including
legal jurisdiction and environmental problems, but failed to
resolve some thorny issues, because of difficulties in
harmonizing Korea's legal system with military pacts in other
countries," Song Min-soon, director-general of the ministry's
North American department, told reporters on Monday.

"But we plan to reach a breakthrough before the Clinton
administration ends," he said.

The talks to alter the treaty have been off-and-on since 1996.
Song would not elaborate on which issues were blocking a final
agreement on the military accord, which governs some 37,000 U.S.
troops stationed in South Korea.

But local reports said the main issues were Seoul's demand for
greater jurisdiction over U.S. criminal suspects and for
including a provision on environmental regulations in the revised
agreement.

The current pact, last revised in 1991, allows U.S. service
personnel accused of crimes to remain in American custody until
they are convicted by a local court.

Seoul is demanding U.S. military criminal suspects be placed
under its jurisdiction from the time they are arrested.
The United States in August agreed to hand over custody of U.S.
military personnel charged with crimes in South Korea to Korean
authorities, but is seeking strong legal guarantees for the
accused.

South Korea also wants to include environmental regulations in
the revised treaty, after U.S. military authorities acknowledged
dumping toxic material earlier this year into the Han River, the
major source of drinking water for Seoul's 11 million people.

South Koreans, including President Kim Dae-jung, have been
calling for the controversial military pact to be revised amid
growing public sentiment against U.S. forces in Korea since an
historic summit between North and South Korean leaders in June.

South Korea says the treaty, known as the Status of Forces
Agreement, is discriminatory, compared to similar accords
governing U.S. troops in Japan and elsewhere.

Activist groups last week held a rally to demand changes in
the agreement in front of the government building where the talks
were held.

South Korean officials, led by Song, held talks from November
29 with U.S. officials led by Frederick Smith, deputy assistant
secretary of state for Asia-Pacific Affairs,

U.S.-led United Nations forces fought Chinese-backed North
Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict ended in an armed
truce, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.