U.S. President George W. Bush has apologized for the deaths of two Korean schoolgirls crushed to death by a U.S. military vehicle in June. His apology was conveyed through U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Thomas Hubbard, in a press conference on Wednesday.

The two U.S. service members who manned the military vehicle which hit the two 13-year-old girls were found not guilty of negligent homicide by a U.S. court martial last week.

The acquittal triggered outrage across the nation followed by a series of protest rallies near U.S. military bases around the country. Both activists and ordinary citizens denounced the verdict and questioned the fairness of the fact that the juries were comprised only of U.S. military officials.

The acquittals also touched off fresh calls for a revision of the Status of Forces Agreement(SOFA), the military accord governing the legal status of 37,000 U.S. troops stationed across the country.

Ambassador Hubbard and General Leon LaPorte, commander of U.S. troops in Korea, who also attended the press conference, maintained that the trials were fair and that the United States would make efforts to improve the SOFA.