MILITARY : Melee Spurs Call for Change in Pact Governing GIs in S. Korea

SEOUL —  The events triggered when Staff Sgt. Frank Golinar patted his wife’s bottom are almost unbelievable.

As reported--or misreported--in the Korean press, U.S. soldiers who were harassing a Korean woman in a crowded subway car attacked and beat a Korean man who protested. They were taken to a police station by an angry mob. When they were handed over to U.S. military authorities under terms of an agreement covering custody of American soldiers suspected of crimes, the crowd began a sit-in demanding an investigation by Korean police.

Under public pressure from the May incident, the Korean government wants to renegotiate terms of the Status of Forces Agreement that calls for soldiers facing criminal accusations in the Korean system to remain in custody of U.S. forces until their trials and any appeals are complete. If convicted and sentenced to prison terms by Korean courts, the soldiers must then serve time in Korean jails.

It appears probable that there will be revisions in the next few weeks in the rules, providing for faster transfers to Korean custody in some cases.

There are, of course, cases in South Korea where U.S. soldiers commit terrible crimes, including murder and rape.

It is also true that, in Japan, U.S. soldiers accused of crimes have long been turned over to Japanese authorities upon indictment. After a widely publicized rape case in Okinawa involving three U.S. servicemen, changes have been made in Japan to further speed up the hand-over process in some serious cases. Many in South Korea believe that it is insulting for Washington not to agree to the same terms here as apply in Japan.

But the misunderstandings that surrounded Golinar and his Korean-born wife, So Hee Golinar, offer an illustration of why the U.S. military is reluctant to give up the degree of American-style legal protection now granted to soldiers accused of crimes.

When Golinar patted So Hee’s bottom, at about the time they and nearly a dozen Army friends got off a subway car, a Korean man, indeed, protested, said Jim Coles, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Korea.

“She [So Hee Golinar] said, ‘I am married to this guy, and he can put his hand on my butt if he wants to,’ ” Coles said. “Many Koreans don’t like Korean women marrying foreign men. . . . Mrs. Golinar was called some very rude names. It’s clear she was spit on and hit in the face by a Korean man. At that point, Frank Golinar hit the man who struck So Hee and called her names.”

Several Korean men then attacked Golinar, and he called down the platform to his friends for help, Coles said. Moments later, about 40 young Korean men saw these Americans seemingly “ganging up on four or five Koreans,” and they joined the fray.

When Korean police showed up, “the American guys were giving better than they were getting,” Coles said. “The Korean police, instead of separating the combatants and getting the crowd back, allowed the combatants to remain engaged and a crowd of 200 to gather around.”

U.S. military police finally arrived and broke up the fight.

Golinar was recently convicted of assault and sentenced to six months imprisonment by a Korean court.

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Choi Hyon Ju, secretary general of the Citizens Committee to Wipe Out Crimes of U.S. Servicemen, said: “Because of the division of the country, past governments emphasized anti-Communist, anti-North Korea ideology, and it was deeply imprinted among the Korean people that the stationing of U.S. troops in South Korea was justified. Now, the level of awakening of Koreans is such that they believe it is necessary to have U.S. troops stationed here for political purposes, but their crimes must be adequately dealt with.”

Chi Jung Nam of The Times’ Seoul bureau contributed to this report.