SOFA revision subject to Assembly ratification

The government was reported Monday to have decided to refer revised bill of the status of forces agreement (SOFA) with the United States to the National Assembly for approval.

The revised SOFA was initialed on Dec. 28 by the two governments. According to the Office of Legislation, the accord must first be approved at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday and, after signing by Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Lee Joung-Binn and U.S. ambassador to Seoul Steven Bosworth on Thursday, it would be sent to the legislature for ratification.

Some officials involved in negotiating the revision saw no need to put the agreement up for parliamentary consent because it was a substantial improvement on the previous one. But the government resolved to submit the pact to the legislature to allow it to act on a few points at issue that may contradict domestic laws and thus attract popular concern.

At the cabinet session, the Office of Legislation is to give the following reasons for a review by the National Assembly: the cooling-off period for labor disputes has been reduced from 70 days to 45 days, yet it is much longer than that specified by domestic laws; newly included provisions on the environment require scrutiny within the context of Korean laws.

In the meantime, it consulted with the Ministry of Justice on several provisions related to criminal procedure and concluded that they may well fit into the framework of the domestic legal system. The provisions concern the inability of Korean officials to question American suspects after indictment and the non-validity as evidence of statements made in the absence of defense counsel. Floor debates are likely to take place to contest the equity between concrete protection of legal rights for accused U.S. servicemen and far more abstract stipulations of relevant local criminal procedures.