A Protest for the Death of Two Middle School Girls by the US Army Armored Car

The broadcasting and movie artists, who protests the Not Guilty decision against the US soldiers related to the death of middle school girls by the US Army armored car, had a press conference and a haircutting ceremony in front of the Korea Telecommunication building in Gwanghwa-Mun, Seoul at 1 o’clock PM on the 6th.

The protest demonstrators, who are visiting America, held a photo exhibition about American soldiers` crimes and silent demonstration in front of the White House in Washington while it was snowing heavily.

▽ Assembly inside the country; In this day`s event, starting with movie directors Park Chan-wook, Rhyu Seung-wan, and Byun Young-joo, 16 people attended including movie actor Choi Min-sik, Singers Lee Hyun-woo and Gwon Jin-won, and entertainer Kim Mi-hwa.

The participants said through the statement, “People living in this land cannot suffer from the pain caused by the US Army any more,” and urged, “The Government should start amending the unfair Status of the Forces Agreement, and the US President George W. Bush must officially apologize to the bereaved family and Korean people.”

After the press conference, movie directors Park Chan-wook and Rhyu Seung-wan had a haircutting ceremony, and movie director Kim Ji-woon cut his hair at the shooting location in Yangsu-Ri, Gyeonggi at the same time.

On that day`s statement, about 110 people, including entertainers Son Suk and Gwon Hae-hyo, and movie director Lee Chang-dong, expressed their will to participate.

▽ Demonstration in America; ‘The People`s Counterplan Committee for the Death of Middle School Girls by the US Army Armored Car (People`s Committee)’ Visiting America Campaign Group (Leader, Minister Han Sang-ryul) held a photo exhibition about the American soldiers` crime in front of the White House in Washington and had a silent demonstration in the morning of the 5th (local time) following the demonstration in New York.

Before that, the People`s Committee visited the US Department of Defense and asked to the Korean delegation participating on the Korea-U.S. Annual Security Consultative Meeting to bring forward the following things to America: △to make the deceptive not-guilty decision against the American soldiers invalid, △to transfer the criminal trial right to Korean Government to punish those two American soldiers in a Korean court, and △to totally amend the unfair SOFA. The People`s Committee tried to deliver an English letter containing those demands; however, the US Department of Defense refused to accept the letter. The People`s Committee is planning to visit the White House on the 6th, and deliver the letter to the President Bush and the paper contains signatures of 1.3 million people.

Hyo-Lim Son aryssong@donga.com