The U.S. air force allegedly conducted an illegal probe into South Korean civilians, a local broadcaster YTN reported on Friday.

According to the report, seven shopkeepers near Osan Air Base have been called into for questioning by officials at the USFK airbase since last December on the suspicion of illegal activities.

“There was a small room that looked like an interrogation room, and I was all by myself to answer the investigator. He coercively asked me if I arranged prostitution for U.S. soldiers,” one man told YTN.

Legal experts claim the USFK went beyond what it could do legitimately.

“There is no regulation in the U.S.-ROK Status of Forces Agreement that permits the U.S. forces to lead an independent investigation into Korean civilians,” said Ha Ju-hee, a lawyer from a group named Lawyers for a Democratic Society.

The airbase officials said the investigators collected information from residents nearby the base only to probe into the U.S. soldiers’ misconduct, and that there was no coercion.



By Park Sui, Intern reporter
(suipark@heraldcorp.com)