Korea, U.S. agree on SOFA revision

Korea and the United States agreed that now is the time for the two countries to revise the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) at a morning session held at the Government Building Complex in Seoul on August 2.

However, representatives of the two governments showed differences in their positions on concrete problems such as measures to protect the rights of U.S. criminal suspects and the expenses of incorporating new environmental clauses into the pact.

Since the SOFA negotiators made the unusual decision to employ interpreters for the talks, discussion of the agenda items often progressed more slowly than expected. But the Korean delegates viewed this in a positive light, saying they bought more time for prudent consultations.

With regard to criminal jurisdiction, the two sides planned to finish discussions with the presentation of introductory statements and explanations of their proposals, but failed to complete these tasks as scheduled due to interpretation delays. As a result, the 36-member delegations of both sides had a working luncheon in a restaurant in Samchong-dong, Seoul, and continued their discussions there. A Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry official revealed that they would have to examine as many as 300 pages of documents up for discussion. Song Min-soon, director general of the ministry`s North American Affairs Bureau, told the press in the afternoon that the two sides agreed to amend the SOFA in a way that would resolve both symbolic and practical problematic issues and that the American side showed willingness to discuss all matters of mutual concern.