I suspected there was more to this alleged assault in Taegu:
Six U.S. soldiers questioned in an alleged attack on two South Korean women in Daegu have denied wrongdoing, local police said Wednesday.
Police said they questioned the soldiers for two hours on Nov. 23 at the Daegu Central Police Station.
Police said the soldiers — two women and four men, all from Camp Walker — allegedly punched and kicked the two women when the pair tried to stop them from vandalizing a sign outside a restaurant about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 18.
The women, a 37-year-old and her mother, 59, owned the restaurant, police have said.
Police said Wednesday they had no word on the women’s condition and on what injuries, if any, they might have sustained.
During questioning Nov. 23, the soldiers denied striking the women and said they had no intention of offering any financial compensation, police said Wednesday.
Moreover, police said, the six told them they were attacked by South Korean onlookers outside the restaurant. Police said that account conflicts with that of the two restaurant owners, who said onlookers had no physical contact with the soldiers. [Stars & Stripes]
I say send them to jail with no fair trial because we all know that Korean mobs would never assault a group of GIs and then lie about it afterwards. Such things do not happen in Korea.
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3:42 am on November 30th, 2007 1
The line about the onlookers having no contact with the soldiers stretches credibility enough to take this somewhat out of the he said/she said category.
Still have no clue who to believe as to the original start of the incident.
One reason why the Korean version of these events becomes the historical one in many cases is that the GIs are usually silent due to our understanding of legal systems — namely when to shut up…
…Any legal adviser is going to tell the GIs to keep their mouth shut before and during a trial.
But in the meantime, what you get beyond simple leaks from the police that the GIs deny everything is several reports about what the victim’s claim. Basically, the victim’s have the floor and the silence from the GI side starts to add its own since of guilt…
I don’t know how you could change that situation, though, because the best thing the GIs can do is still to remain silent until the case is decided in a court of law.
5:37 am on November 30th, 2007 2
Of course the GI’s are going to say they didn’t do anything wrong.
What, so they’re going to say they really beat up those women so they deserve punishment? I’m really getting tired of your bias that GI’s can do no wrong.
6:09 am on November 30th, 2007 3
I already said to throw them in jail without a fair trial just the way you like it. What are you complaining about?
9:40 am on November 30th, 2007 4
[...] One thing is for sure; any time you see the word “onlookers,” it should raise all kinds of red flags. Somehow, I doubt we’ll be hearing too much more about this story. You can also read more over at The ROK Drop. [...]
11:49 am on November 30th, 2007 5
Did I say throw them in jail without a fair trial? You did, I didn’t.
But you’ve already made up your mind that they’re innocent, just based on the fact that they opened their mouths. So what do you think happened here? The restaurant owner and her daughter decided to take on the 6 innocent drunk GI’s because they didn’t like the group?
1:26 pm on November 30th, 2007 6
Tom, I think the point GI is trying to make here is that he doesn’t really know what happened. That it seems just as likely the GI’s are lying as it is that the Korean’s are lying should be a given. It’s impossible to ‘defend’ either side because we don’t really know anything except what the press is saying about it.
I also don’t think it’s fair to say that GI tries to say that “GI’s can do no wrong. His reporting on issues concerning GI crimes is as balanced as it deserves to be.
The cold, hard fact is that the Koreans are just as likely to have lied about what happened as the GI’s but we do not have any evidence that the GI’s are lying yet because they have only said that they didn’t do what they are accused of. On the other hand, we KNOW that the ‘onlookers’ are lying because there is NO WAY that they just stood around and watched what happend and called the police. So, the only place we have verifiable lies coming from is the Korean side…take that for what it is worth at this point.
12:16 am on December 1st, 2007 7
Fencerider and Tom,
In cases like this, when it’s basically the Republic of Korea vs. Foreigner, it is much more likely that Koreans will lie to protect each other. There is plenty of historical evidence and social analysis available to support this. GI Korea was being sarcastic because of the general dispair that foreigners will not get a fair trial here.
It is most likely the case that the GIs were goofing around, they were yelled at by the restaurant owner, and then bystanders “stepped in” to help the shopkeepers and protect them from the foreign soldiers. [Also bear in mind that American GIs are stereotyped as viciously as blacks are among LA Koreans.] Then someone threw a punch, either an angry Korean who figured he would be anonymous in a mob, or a (possibly frightened) GI trying to fight his way out of a menacing crowd and then all hell broke loose. The question of truth here is who threw the first punch.
If you were Korean, whose story would you want to believe, your fellow citizens or the foreigner?
Pym
12:17 am on December 1st, 2007 8
Sorry, I meant to write this: [Also bear in mind that American GIs are stereotyped here in Korea as viciously as blacks are among Koreans in Los Angeles.]
12:33 am on December 1st, 2007 9
Tom,
Your charge of bias is completely without merit. On several occasions – whenever the GI is clearly in the wrong – GI Korea has in fact called for their punishment.
But, if you’re really that oblivious to how one-sided GIs are treated in Korea I’m not sure anything you read will change your mind. You seem a bit clueless at to the realities of how Koreans view and treat GI, and the hopelessly third-world nature of the Korean legal system.
4:33 am on December 1st, 2007 10
You know the Korean Lying thing does hit a point. I drove a bus the other week and one that bus was a small group of Soldiers including a Katusa. He sat in the rear seat and as I drove I watched him eat while I drove.
At the end of the trip I told everyone to pick up the trash and everyone complied with the exception of small gum rappers….all except for the Katusa.
He left a bag of potato sticks with the sticks spilled all over the area he was sitting and a carton of that uniquely Korean drink of black berry soy milk (yuk)
I was pissed so I told his senior he owed me some pushups. The senior confronted me and said no way could this guy done this and that it must of been someone else (someone sitting on his lap?)
The Katusa was upset that I could of accused his Soldiers of such a terrible crime. I told him that integrity obviously was not a big thing for the Katusas and that he should just leave.
Sadly my comment/insult was probably lost in translation.
5:44 am on December 1st, 2007 11
As was pointed out, I was being sarcastic because I see where this incident is leading where this group is probably not going to get a fair trial to determine what happened. If you believe these GIs went and assaulted two women just for the hell of it and then the “onlookers” just stood there and did nothing you obviously haven’t spent much time in Korea.
This incident probably went down with drunk GIs walking down the street being loud and obnoxious. Someone maybe slaps a sign in front of the restaurant, ajumma gets pissed yells at them, GI yells back, and then the “concerned citizens” which is Korean media code name for a mob gets involved. The mob is probably drunk as well considering the hour it was and they were at a restaurant.
So you have drunk mob confronting a drunk group of GIs. Someone in the mob probably does the ajushi grab and shove thing against one of the GIs and things escalate from there. I don’t know what happened but plenty of past experience tells me this is what probably happened.
These soldiers should have an expectation to have a fair trial to have their side of the story heard but when you compare similar incidents that have happened in the past to this one, it is pretty clear mob justice is going to win out. These soldiers better get their compensation payments ready or it will be jail time for them.
6:07 pm on December 1st, 2007 12
I dont no GI I think your theory is far fetched and based on bias generated by your egotistical western mentality.
I feel bad for the Korean owners they had to be attacked viscously by well trained killers who certainly just returned from Iraq to escape prosecution from there murderous ways.
Thank goodness there are concerned citizens out there in Korea who are willing to take a stand and stop the senseless beatings the GI’s layed on these hard working restaurant owners. I can only hope People of Western nations such as the US can take this example and take a bite out of crime.
6:09 pm on December 1st, 2007 13
I also heard the GIs subjected the restaurant owners to water boarding while the helpless crowd was held off by trained American MPs with weapons.
6:59 am on July 10th, 2008 14
[...] the fact against GIs especially in Dongducheon. It isn’t just a Dongducheon issue either, being attacked by a mob and having false charges brought against you can happen anywhere a GI goes in Korea. Heck the [...]