A press conference and sit-down demonstrations 
urging the USFK to yield the right of jurisdiction 
in the Kim Myong-ja case

On August 29, SPARK and other NGOs co-hosted a press conference at the Yongsan Garrison in order to urge the USFK to yield the right of jurisdiction in the Kim Myong-ja case. Ms. Kim was run over and killed by a US military truck on June 10.

This is the second time in the 60-year history of the USFK in which the Korean Ministry of Justice has requested the USFK to waive the right to exercise jurisdiction. The first time was in 2002, when a USFK armored vehicle struck and killed two middle-school girls in Yangju City. In that case, the USFK rejected the Korean government's request.
The USFK, the NGOs asserted, should yield the right to exercise jurisdiction in the Kim Myong-ja case in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Article 22 of the SOFA reads:  "The authorities of the State having the primary right shall give sympathetic consideration to a request from the authorities of the other State for a waiver of its right in cases where that other State considers such waiver to be of particular importance."
In more than 80% of such cases the Korean government has yielded this right in response to the US's requests, but there has never been a single instance where the US authorities have  yielded their right. That is one of the reasons for anti-American  feelings among Koreans.

Right after the press conference, the demonstrators began to hold a 4-day series of sit-down protests in front of the Yongsan Garrison gate. The demonstrations were supposed to last until September 1, the deadline for the USFK to respond to the Korean government's request.

On August 31, during the sit-down demonstrations, Eric Sirotkin and his colleagues from the National Lawyers Guild in the US visited the demonstration site. They supported the protest and expressed their solidarity.

On September 1, the demonstrators concluded the sit-down demonstrations and held an urgent press conference to denounce the USFK for rejecting the Korean government's request.
During the conference, the protesters re-enacted the accident using a one-third sized wooden model of the military truck and the late Ms. Kim's own cart.

Kang Hong-goo, head of the demonstrators, explained why the USFK should yield the right of jurisdiction: "It will be impossible to reveal the truth of the accident if the investigation of the case  remains within the US military justice system. Because the killer insisted that he couldn't see, hear or feel anything at the time of the accident. Moreover, the killer has not been prosecuted yet although the accident happened nearly 3 months ago."

In addition, the participants threw apples and eggs at a picture of Bush to symbolize the fact that "the US authorities' apology was hypocritical." (In Korean, the word "sagwa" can mean both "apology" and "apple".) The USFK commanders issued an immediate apology to the family and Korean people after the accident.

To conclude, the demonstrators expressed their determination to continue their struggle until the unequal SOFA is completely revised.