Press Releases

SEOUL, Republic of Korea (USFK) Sept. 15, 2002 - Three USFK soldiers were assaulted and one was forcibly abducted Saturday by Korean demonstrators protesting the June 13 armored vehicle accident that killed two Korean teenage girls. All of the USFK soldiers have returned to their units.
According to initial reports from the Korean National Police and the USFK Provost Marshal's Office, the incident began on a train from Yongsan Station. Pvts. John Murphy, Eric Owens, and Shane Tucker were returning to Camp Red Cloud from Seoul when demonstrators boarded the train and began handing out flyers. Murphy declined a Korean language flyer about the accident presented to him by an older Korean man. Murphy's refusal to take a flyer he could not read angered the crowd, and he was punched in the face by the older Korean man who is believed to be a Mr.Suh, Kyong Won. A scuffle ensued and Murphy was allegedly attacked by at least four of the demonstrators. As Murphy defended himself, he allegedly struck Mr. Suh.
The preliminary investigation determined that Owens and Tucker picked up Murphy, pulling him away from the demonstrators, and that they moved to another car on the train. They then decided to get off and wait for another train to take them to Uijongbu, according to Owens.
However, according to our investigation, a large number of demonstrators followed them off the train. All three soldiers say they then tried to leave the train station but were blocked by the demonstrators who hit and kicked them.
According to the soldiers' initial statements, they were pulled, punched, kicked and spat upon by demonstrators while a crowd of some 200 demonstrators watched. . When they reached a Korean National Police (KNP) barricade outside the Kyunghee University Hospital, the KNP took custody of Owens and Tucker while the demonstrators allegedly abducted Murphy and took him against his will to the university's stadium where a memorial demonstration was being held for the two teenage girls killed in the armored vehicle accident. The captors allegedly forced Murphy to watch the demonstration. During this time he was photographed, videotaped and allegedly forced to make a public statement about the incident on the train and in support of the demonstrator's demand for a waiver of jurisdiction of the charges in the June 13 accident case, currently referred for trial by U.S. military courts-martial.
The demonstrators took Murphy to the Kyunghee University hospital where Murphy asserts that he was told to apologize to Mr. Suh. Under duress, Murphy apologized to Mr. Suh and was taken to the Chungnyangni KNP station where he and the other two soldiers were questioned.
Despite the alleged attack on the three soldiers and the demonstrators' forced abduction of Murphy, the KNP charged Murphy with assault. USFK in accordance with SOFA provisions will make available all three soldiers to be questioned by Korean prosecutors today. No charges have apparently been brought against the Korean participants in this incident, but it is expected that charges of restraint against one's will and aggravated assault will be filed.
The soldiers are now under USFK custody and the case is under investigation by the KNP and U.S. military investigators.
The U.S. Embassy and U.S. Forces Korea have protested this incident to the Government of the Republic of Korea, and have protested the handling of this incident to the Korean National Police.