SOUTH KOREA: U.S. SOLDIER GOES ON TRIAL FOR HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENT IN SOUTH KOREA

Record ID: 195325

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: U.S. SOLDIER GOES ON TRIAL FOR HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENT IN SOUTH KOREA
  • Date: 15th January 2004
  • Summary: (U3) SUWON, SOUTH KOREA (JANUARY 15, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV BUS, CARRYING U.S. SOLDIER, ARRIVING 0.03 2. SV SOUTH KOREAN AUTHORITIES LEADING SERGEANT JERRY ONKEN OFF BUS WITH ROPE TIED TO HANDS 0.13 3. CU OF PAPERS ON NOTICE BOARD INDICATING TRIAL DATE AND TIME / MAN READING PAPER ON NOTICE BOARD (2 SHOTS) 0.22 4. SV DOOR TO WHERE T
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SUWON, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Reuters ID: LVABZXQ4VVINLJG4EOJZ220T7D54
  • Story Text: U.S. soldier goes on trial for hit-and-run accident
    in South Korea.




    A U.S. soldier accused of leaving the scene of a
    fatal traffic accident went on trial on Thursday (January
    15) in South Korea.

    This is the first time an American soldier based in
    Korea was handed over to local authorities for custody
    before trial.

    The U.S. eighth army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel
    Steven Boylan said thirty-three-year-old Sergeant Jerry
    Onken of Onamia, Minnesota, has been charged by the U.S.

    Army with "leaving the scene of a vehicle accident causing
    a fatality".

    The U.S. army spokesman said the car accident occurred
    on a highway near Suwon, a city south of the national's
    capital of Seoul. Onken is a member of the 1-43 Air Defence
    Artillery Battalion based in Suwon.

    South Korean investigators said the woman who was
    killed in the accident was Kee Kyeong-sun, and was believed
    to be in her early 20s.

    Onken is the first soldier to be taken into local
    custody after a revision in the Status of Forces Agreement
    (SOFA), which gives South Korea jurisdiction over U.S.

    soldiers who commit crimes off-duty, was made in 2001 that
    U.S. authorities must surrender soldiers to local
    authorities for jailing before trial.

    SOFA has jurisdiction over the 37,000 U.S. soldiers
    stationed in South Korea. Other crimes under SOFA include
    murder, arson, rape and leaving fatal traffic accidents.

    Mass demonstrations strained U.S.-South Korean ties a
    year ago after two 13-year-old girls were crushed to death
    in June 2002 by a tank-like minesweeping vehicle during a
    U.S. army training drill

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