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Monday, July 31, 2000

U.S., South Korea to talk
about possible SOFA revision

By Jim Lea
Osan bureau chief

PYONGTAEK, South Korea — The United States and South Korea will hold two days of talks this week on possible revision of the Status of Forces Agreement.

Frederick Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia-Pacific Afairs, will head the U.S. negotiating team, and Song Min-soon, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s North American Affairs Bureau, will head the South Korean delegation.

The talks will be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul. It will be the first time since 1996 that the two sides have met to discuss the agreement that governs the U.S. military presence in the country. Talks on possible revision of the agreement began in 1995 but broke down, with both sides reportedly far apart on a number of issues.

Last month’s historic Inter-Korean Summit — the first meeting between leaders of the two Koreas since the peninsula was divided in 1945 — has created a mood of euphoria in the South. That has increased calls for a revision of the SOFA, which many claim is biased in favor of the United States.

Heightened anti-American sentiment in the country has led to a number of demonstrations in front of Yongsan Garrison, the main U.S. headquarters base in Seoul. Protesters are demanding the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in Korea be withdrawn.

U.S. Forces Korea has cautioned its members to stay clear of any large gatherings. Last week, USFK issued a warning that it had “credible information” that the major radical student group in the country, Hanchongnyon, would attempt to kidnap Americans.

In a meeting with South Korean National Assemblymen on Friday, U.S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth said U.S. negotiators will go into this week’s SOFA meetings “with an open mind,” Seoul newspapers reported. He also was quoted as saying the U.S. side “is willing to discuss all the agendas in which the Korean people have expressed an interest.”

Those issues include environmental protection by USFK, working conditions for USFK Korean employees and when Korean legal authorities can take custody of U.S. troops accused of breaking Korean law.