Demonstrations have broken out across the country protesting the "not guilty" verdict handed out to U.S. soldiers who ran over and killed two Korean girls last June.

The National Police Agency (NPA) said scattered riots broke out in Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Suwon, and Gunsan Saturday after a U.S. military court acquitted Sergeants Mark Walker and Fernando Nino of charges of negligent homicide.

A national alliance of rights activists, formed to respond to the girls' deaths, denounced the verdict as a sham and held a rally in front of a U.S. military base in central Seoul Saturday afternoon and demanded punishment of the U.S. soldiers.

Analysts have predicted an amendment of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), that governs the legal status of U.S. troops in Korea, would emerge as a hot issue between Korea and the United States.

Under the pact, the two U.S. soldiers were tried at a U.S. military court, not in a Korean court. Civic groups had demanded to no avail that the two undergo trial at a Korean court.

An alliance official said alliance members will stage rallies in cities where U.S. military bases are located, and send a 10-member delegation to the White House, to deliver a statement of protest signed by one million Koreans.