USFK member accused of alleged DUI on motorcycle

A police officer carries out a sobriety test on a driver in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, in this photo taken in 2019. The photo above is unrelated to the article. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

By Lee Hyo-jin

A United States Forces Korea (USFK) service member is under investigation by local police for allegedly causing an accident while driving a motorcycle under the influence of alcohol, according to the law enforcement authorities, Tuesday.

Pyeongtaek Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said a 37-year-old male sergeant, whose identity has been withheld, is accused of driving under the influence at the time of the accident. He crashed his motorcycle into a Kia Sorento at a three-way intersection near Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek at around 7:40 p.m., Sunday.

The sergeant left the scene of the collision, leaving his motorcycle behind. The Sorento driver reportedly suffered minor injuries.

After police arrived on the scene, they tracked the owner of the motorcycle through the license plate number and found that the vehicle belonged to a person on Osan Air Base.

The sergeant turned himself in at around midnight, shortly after local police launched a joint investigation with U.S. military police. His blood alcohol level at the time he turned himself in was 0.323 percent, well above 0.08 percent, which would qualify for the revocation of a driver's license.

The police turned him over to the USFK authorities under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the legal status of American troops here. Under the SOFA rules, Korean authorities can detain a U.S. service member only on charges of serious crimes such as murder, rape, illicit drug trade or physical assault.

"We will investigate the allegation further in cooperation with the USFK. We plan to summon the suspect for questioning, but the date has yet to be settled," a Pyeongtaek police officer in charge of the investigation told The Korea Times. He declined to confirm further details or the circumstances because the investigation is ongoing.

The USFK authorities, for their part, vowed to cooperate with local authorities.

"The USFK remains committed to being good ambassadors and neighbors with our host nation. This type of alleged behavior does not represent our values or the respect we hold for Korean people or their culture," a USFK official said. "We take all reports of inappropriate behavior seriously, and are cooperating with the Korean police."

But the official declined to comment in response to The Korea Times' inquiry whether the sergeant was drunk driving while on duty.

This incident is not the first time this year an American soldier in Korea has been accused of alleged DUI offenses.

Earlier in April, a U.S. soldier in his 20s was accused of having crashed into about 10 cars and motorcycles parked in a residential area in Yongsan District of Seoul while drunk driving. In March, another USFK service member was involved in a DUI hit-and-run case in Pyeongtaek.

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