SEOUL, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The alleged rapes of two South Korean teens by U.S. soldiers has led to protests and a call to allow police to detain soldiers earlier in investigations.
Yonhap reports South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan told reporters Thursday his government plans to ask U.S. officials to revise the Status of Forces Agreement governing the legal status of 28,500 U.S. troops in the country after the two unconnected alleged rapes.
A task force in Seoul on preventing crimes by U.S. forces in Korea met for the first time Thursday.
"The task force is focusing on preventing crimes involving U.S. forces' Korea soldiers and allowing South Korean police to retain custody of U.S. service members at an early stage in an investigation," Kim said.
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Critics said the SOFA goes too far in protecting U.S. soldiers, as South Korean police have the right to take a U.S. service member into custody only if the suspect is caught in the act of serious crimes such as murder or rape, Yonhap said.
The Los Angeles Times reported many residents call for an end to the agreement that allows the U.S. troops in Korea, saying they're more fearful of the U.S. military peacekeepers than the North Korea regime the troops are charged with protecting them from.
The Times reported Seoul officials said violence by U.S. troops in recent weeks also included the assault of a 70-year-old grandmother.
The newspaper noted local media say Seoul dance clubs U.S. military members once visited now ban admission to American soldiers after concerns expressed by female patrons.
South Korean officials say there were 377 alleged crimes by U.S. military members in the country last year, up from 306 in 2010, and rapes rose from zero in 2000 to 11 in 2010, the Times said.
A small percentage of American troops commit crimes, said Col. Jonathan Withington, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea.
He also said South Korean police are quickly given access to potential crime suspects and noted a 21-year-old Army private indicted in one of the recent rapes was turned over to the country's police the same day they requested it.
