Korea and U.S. Agree to Form Task Force Team to Deal With SOFA

The Korean and U.S. governments agreed on 11 to form a task force team to seek ways to improve the operation of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the legal status of 37,000 U.S. troops stationed here.

The two sides held a “two plus two” diplomatic and security-related senior officials’ meeting at the central government building in downtown Seoul. Lee Tae-sik, deputy assistance of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, Cha Young-goo, policy director of the Defense Ministry, Evans Levier, diplomatic minister in U.S. Embassy, and Charlie Kembell, commander of the U.S.8th Army, attended the meeting and agreed to the formation of the task force team. A government official said, “The U.S. side expressed once again “deep regret” over the deaths of the two Korean teenage girls and agreed to have close bilateral consultations to improve the SOFA and prevent the recurrence of cases similar to the incident during military trainings. And the two sides will discuss the ways to improve the agreement through the task force team.”

In the meeting, the Korean government expressed its intention to establish a public petition center dealing with the SOFA under the wings of the Foreign Ministry and the U.S. side promised to work closely together.

The government official said, however, that during the meeting, the two sides did not discuss measures to deal with the capture of a North Korean cargo ship loading scuds missiles.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com