U.S. Soldier Sentenced In Seoul

(AP)  A U.S. military court on Thursday sentenced an American soldier to 30 years in jail for sodomizing a South Korean soldier, the U.S. military said. Two other American soldiers suspected of involvement in the assault are under investigation.

Sgt. Leng Sok was court-martialed at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, on charges of aggravated assault, indecent acts, sodomy, submission of a false official statement and conspiracy.

Sok "has been found guilty in all five charges," said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a spokesman for the U.S. Eighth Army.

A court-martial panel of four officers and three noncommissioned officers sentenced Sok to serve 30 years in jail in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Boylan said.

Sok can appeal the ruling, he said.

The sergeant was also reduced to the rank of private and will forfeit all his pay and allowances while in jail, Boylan said. The soldier also will receive dishonorable discharge after serving out his sentence.

The victim was one of 4,600 South Koreans serving with the U.S. military. The group is known as Korean Augmentation to the United States Army, or KATUSA.

Sok, the other two suspects and the victim are male.

The Korean was assaulted last March at a training center at Camp Jackson, a U.S. military base north of Seoul. The U.S. military declined to release information on the victim, including whether he is still serving with the U.S. military.

Sok, who previously had served in the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division in South Korea, belonged to the 21st Infantry Regiment in Fort Lewis in the U.S. state of Washington.

The U.S. military is investigating two other American soldiers suspected of taking part in the assault, Boylan said. No charges have been brought against them.

South Korean authorities had primary jurisdiction in the case because the incident took place while the suspect was off-duty. But South Korean authorities decided to transfer jurisdiction to the United States "given the nature of the case," Boylan said, without elaborating.

Officials at South Korea's Justice Ministry were not immediately available for comment.

Anti-American sentiment rose last year after the deaths of two teenage South Korean girls hit by a U.S. armored vehicle in a road accident. The two American soldiers in the vehicle were acquitted of negligent homicide charges in U.S. military trials.

The acquittals sparked nationwide protests in which thousands of demonstrators demanded retrials in a South Korean court and revisions to a treaty governing the 37,000 U.S. soldiers in South Korea.

The treaty, called the Status of Forces Agreement, gives the U.S. military jurisdiction over American soldiers accused of crimes while on duty, although it allows South Korea to try them on a case-by-case basis.

Many South Koreans say the treaty should be revised to give South Korea more power, claiming it often fails to punish American soldiers who commit crimes. However, U.S. officials have ruled out an immediate revision of the 1966 accord, which has been amended twice.

Most South Koreans tolerate or support the U.S. military presence but accidents and crimes involving soldiers have been a constant source of discontent.


By Sang-Hun Choe