Activists in police custody after protests
Written: 2002-06-28 00:00:00 / Updated: 0000-00-00 00:00:00
Two activists are under South Korean police custody after forcing their way into a U.S. military base. They were protesting the deaths of two South Korean teenage girls struck by a U.S. armored vehicle. The two tore down a barbed wire fence and entered the headquarters of the second U-S Infantry Division in Eujongbu, north of Seoul. On Wednesday, about five hundred demonstrators rallied in front of the base. The protesters demanded an apology from the U.S. military and a trial in a South Korean court of the two soldiers who were in the vehicle which struck the girls in the middle of this month. The U.S. military says that it was an "accident." But the father of one of the victims said the driver had enough time to avoid the girls but didn't, because he didn't want to crash into the oncoming military vehicles.Under a defense agreement with Washington, South Korea has no jurisdiction over U-S soldiers involved in accidents while on duty.
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