The U.S. military in South Korea agreed on Wednesday to give more legal jurisdiction to local authorities over serious crimes involving American troops before they are charged, state media reported quoting officials.
The agreement, reached at a regular meeting earlier in the day over the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the legal status of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, came nearly nine months after two American soldiers were accused of raping teenage girls in South Korea in separate incidents.
Under the agreement, Korean law enforcement officials can take U.S. military personnel into custody before the suspect is charged in case of heinous crimes such as murder or rape, said a senior official at the Foreign Ministry.
South Korea and the U.S. military also agreed to remove a contentious clause in the SOFA rules. The clause called for Korean prosecutors to indict an American military suspect within 24 hours of taking into custody which, critics say, goes too far in protecting U.S. soldiers.
"In case of serious crimes, it is unrealistic for a prosecutor to indict a suspect within 24 hours," the Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying. "The agreement is expected to grant our law enforcement officials more investigative authority from the initial stages of serious criminal cases," the official said.
Wednesday's meeting was led by Lee Baek-soon, Director-General of the Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, and Lt-Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas, Deputy Commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to defend the country against Communist North Korea.
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