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Thursday, September 21, 2000

Cohen: U.S. encouraged by Korea
steps, but 'prudence is watchword'

By Jim Lea
Osan bureau chief

Defense Secretary William Cohen said Tuesday that while the United States supports the growing detente between South and North Korea, "prudence is the watchword" in regard to the South Korean-U.S. security alliance.

"We are encouraged by the steps that we see being taken, but we must remain vigilant," press reports from Bangkok, Thailand, quoted Cohen as saying at a press conference before he left for a three-day visit to South Korea.

"There has been a reduction of tensions" on the Korean peninsula since the summit between leaders of the two Koreas in June," Cohen said. "But we are in the first stages of this move toward reconciliation, (and) I think we have to be very cautious."

Cohen arrived Tuesday in Seoul from a one-day visit to Thailand, the fourth stop in a 10-day Asian trip that has taken him to the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia. In Seoul, he is to attend the annual South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Cho Song-tae on Thursday.

Cohen said he expected discussions on the pending revision of the South Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. He said U.S. and South Korean officials so far have had "good and productive discussions" on the SOFA.

Talks on revising the agreement began in 1995. Since then, there has been rising anti-American sentiment in South Korea. That sentiment has been pushed by special-interest groups that claim the agreement is biased against South Korea.

The controversy has given rise to a number of unprovoked attacks on Americans by South Koreans and has led the U.S. command to order that anyone leaving U.S. bases must use the buddy system while in Korean communities.

Anti-American sentiment was high during this past summer and led to a number of protests at U.S. bases, some of which included minor violence.

A two-day SOFA negotiating session was held in Seoul in early August and the U.S. side is said to have agreed in principle to one of the South’s major demands: turning over any U.S. troops accused of breaking Korean law to Korean authorities as soon as they are indicted for trial in Korean court.

Under the current SOFA, accused and indicted U.S. troops remain in American custody until their trials and all appeals are completed. If convicted and sentenced to prison by a Korean court, they serve their terms in a Korean prison.

At the end of the August negotiating session, officials said more talks would be held "within two months."

Cohen is to visit airmen at Kunsan Air Base, 170 miles south of Seoul on the west coast, after the security meeting Thursday and will depart that evening for Tokyo.