The Korean police are permitted to conduct preliminary investigations into U.S. Army officers and soldiers who are caught red-handed in criminal cases before they hand them over to the U.S. military police, the National Police Agency said Sunday.
The police will also have the right to investigate all types of crimes committed by the U.S. servicemen under detention.
Previously the U.S. military was only required to give “sympathetic consideration” when Korea requested a transfer even before indictment, but the rule only applied to a limited number of grave crimes including murder, rape, arson, kidnapping, and drug trafficking and manufacturing.
The details of the rule were made based on an amendment agreed upon on May 23 to the Status of Forces Agreement between Korea and the United States.
The SOFA governs the legal status of some 28,500 troops stationed in Korea.
Manuals including the details of the rule have been distributed to district police agencies and stations, according to the NPA.
Before the amendment, the Korean authority was banned from holding U.S. suspects for longer than one day unless they are indicted, which hampered the Korean police’s response to crimes by U.S. service members.
The U.S. government representatives or lawyers will be allowed to observe the process of initial investigation to make sure the investigation is not biased.
The new rule also makes it clear that U.S. military police’s authority off base will be exercised only in limited circumstances in which American servicemen are put into danger.
In July, a case in which U.S. military officers handcuffed Korean civilians over illegal parking triggered public outcry, prompting a top U.S. commander to apologize for the incident.
