Special counsel denies violating Status of Forces Agreement during air base search

A special counsel team on Thursday denied violating the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) on hosting U.S. troops in Korea when it searched an air base jointly run by the allies earlier this year, after the U.S. military lodged a complaint over the incident. In July, special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team carried out a search and seizure at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, as part of its investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid. According to a diplomatic source, the U.S. Forces Korea Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. David Iverson recently sent a letter to the foreign ministry protesting the search. While the team searched an Air Force Master Control & Reporting Center operated by the Korean military, the U.S. military reportedly took issue, believing it should have been consulted beforehand, considering investigators would have to go through areas under its control. "It is not true that the special counsel's search and seizure violated the agreement," assistant special counsel Park Ji-young said in a briefing, referring to the allies' SOWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times