The two USFK dependents involved in last April’s taxi cab knifing incident in Waegwon has gone to trial and the teens deny stabbing the driver:

Both defendants said they had been drinking in Waegwon bars that night and were headed by taxi to the train station so the younger teen could catch a train home.

The driver, Park Sang-hui, took a wrong turn, and when the teens assumed he was trying to cheat them on the fare they told him to stop and got out. When they realized they didn’t have money for the fare, they ran.

Park said he parked the taxi and went looking for the teens on scooter.

The teens said they didn’t realize it was Park who had gotten off a scooter, grabbed Banks by his collar, struck him and said, “Money! Money!” They said they thought they were being robbed.

The younger defendant tried to push Park away from his friend but another South Korean man joined the fray.

Banks said he pulled the knife to defend himself but stressed he never stabbed the man.

First of all I just have to wonder how the heck these two were out at 2AM drinking at bars to begin with?  Secondly, you do not pull out a knife to defend yourself in South Korea.  Pulling out a knife is the equivalent of pulling out a gun in the United States on someone.  How do you think the courts in the US would look at someone who pulled out a gun over a $2.50 taxi fare and accidentally shot the cab driver?

That is how the South Korean court is going to look at this case with the soldier pulling out the knife.  The fact he is denying it despite eyewitness testimony and the fact the cab driver has an eight in gash in his stomach is only going to make things worse for him and hopefully he sees some good jail time for it.

I you want to read another example of what happens when you pull out a knife in Korea I highly recommend everyone read about the “Shinchon Massacre” to really understand how as a foreigner in Korea you have no expectation of self defense.

You can read more about this over at Lost Nomad as well.