GI Flashbacks: The 1967 Trial of Staff Sergeant Billy Cox

One of the criticism often claimed by anti-USFK activists is that US soldiers commit crimes and not be tried in Korean courts.  This is of course ridiculous, but it was a claim often made by Koreans especially during the 2002 anti-US movement period.  This claim had no truth to it stretching all the way back to 1967.  It was in 1967 that a US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was reached that allowed US troops to be tried in Korean courts.  Before then crimes committed by US troops were handled by US military court martials.  When the SOFA was agreed upon back in 1967 it was only a matter of time before someone became the first US servicemember tried in a Korean court.  That person would end up being US Air Force Staff Sergeant Billy Cox:

Billy Cox was arrested for crimes that are amazingly similar to stupid crimes committed by US servicemembers to this day.  SSgt Cox on the night of February 20, 1967 was accused of setting fire to the home of his Korean girlfriend named Kyung-soon Eum who lived in Osan.  He was alleged to have set the fire because he found out Eum had been cheating on him with another man.  After setting the fire he was then accused of assaulting a cab driver.  Considering all the incidents with cab drivers in recent years, it is only fitting that the first servicemember case handled by Koreans courts was a taxi cab related incident.  Here is how the March 10, 1967 Stars & Stripes described the incident:

As the case went to trial the Korean prosecutors asked the Seoul court to sentence SSgt Cox to three years in a Korean jail.  Here is how the June 7, 1967 Stars & Stripes described the trial:

The trial ended with SSgt Cox being acquitted on the arson charge, but convicted of assaulting the cab driver. He was given a 50,000 won fine by the court which was about $185 back in 1967.  So if there was ever a trivia question asking what crime the first US servicemember tried in a Korean court was convicted of, it would be for assaulting a cab driver all the way back in 1967.  Good luck though getting an anti-US activist in Korea to ever believe it.

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