Well it looks like no charges will be brought against any Chinese students who rioted in the streets of Seoul during the Olympic torch relay:
A Seoul court decided on Friday to drop an arrest warrant for a Chinese student allegedly involved in a mass act of violence that rocked the recent Olympic torch relay in Seoul, amid mounting calls for an official apology from China.
Some 6,500 Chinese flooded the streets of Seoul on Sunday, outnumbering and intimidating South Korean civic groups that attempted to disrupt the Seoul leg of the Olympic torch relay to protest Beijing’s repatriation of North Korean defectors. [Yonhap]
Now ask yourself what would happen if 6,500 American GI’s started rioting in the streets of Seoul and beating up Koreans? Do you think all the charges would be dropped on them as well?
I think the lesson that GIs can take from this is that if you want to beat up a taxi cab driver in Korea, make sure you have a mob armed with US Embassy issued American flags to beat the cab driver with. 
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7:32 am on May 3rd, 2008 1
Now just ask yourself what Korea’s courts would do if an American USFK contractor dumped some gallons of embalming fluid into the sewage drain in Seoul…..oh, wait…..
we already know…….the judge would throw out the fine the prosecutor submitted as a penalty and demand the SOFA be tossed aside (the prosecutor demanding the fine was going that too) and call for a criminal trial. Then, one of the nation’s top law schools would hold a mock trial - at the end of which the USFK worker would be sentenced to three years in prison…..and all the while, the newspapers would be screaming for justice to be done…….and when the months of fury finally came to an end……..the courts and press and even members of the National Assembly would keep the case alive and in periodically in the public’s mind for about 5 years….
Yup. Sounds about right….
11:05 am on May 3rd, 2008 2
Was the charges dropped? The judge denied an arrest warrant as the defendant showed contrition and was not a flight risk. In other words, he was in jail for one day and was released. However, his trial is another thing. Am I wrong?
That he will be found guilty is a given. His confession and contrition — even if he were innocent — is a good strategy that will get him a suspended sentence. Atleast that’s what he hopes.
12:09 pm on May 3rd, 2008 3
Kalani are you happy now?
12:11 pm on May 3rd, 2008 4
And this UsinKorea is one giant victim complex. What you describe might happen only if this was a murder case. This was an assault case, nobody died. Give me a break.
12:57 pm on May 3rd, 2008 5
Korea blinked… again. As I said. Korea would back down to their old master. And I was right. Good for China!
4:02 pm on May 3rd, 2008 6
WHAT??? THIS IS NOT OVER … NOBODY BLINKED OR DID ANYTHING. THE CASE IS STILL ON — AND NOW IS IN THE HANDS OF THE PROSECUTORS! PERIOD…NO CONCLUSIONS CAN BE DRAWN ON ANYTHING AS YET.
THE FOREIGN MINISTRY DOES NOT WANT THIS TO GO TO TRIAL, BUT THE JUSTICE MINISTRY AT THE BEHEST OF THE PRIME MINISTER MUST PURSUE THIS. THIS IS ONLY DEFENDANT #1 WITH 5 CO-DEFENDANTS STILL AT LARGE.
9:46 pm on May 3rd, 2008 7
Tom’s evidently an idiot who can’t read.
The case I described happened.
8:04 am on May 4th, 2008 8
USIK, It was a civil servant, i.e., a GS employee, not a contractor in the formaldehyde case. If it was a contractor, he would still be in jail. The SOFA is unable to keep us contractors out of jail for a civil liability incurred on ‘official’ biz.
1:15 pm on May 4th, 2008 9
Thanks for the clarification. By contractor I meant a US civilian working for USFK. I don’t know the ins-and-outs of the civilian support services…
8:43 pm on May 4th, 2008 10
Well let me further clarify: civilians are government employees, contractors are not. Contractors are true ex-pats who are subject to the laws of the land in all cases or duty status. There’s a damn lot of us here, and I’d be willing to bet that over half of us are retired Army or Air Force.
It may seem like splitting hairs to someone who has never served, but there is a critical difference.
Kind Regards,
Dave
9:41 am on May 20th, 2008 11
6:18 am on June 21st, 2008 12
[...] embassy backed students that attacked and beat Koreans on the streets of their own capitol city and got away with it. Where were the protests after that? Imagine what the response would be if the US embassy [...]