Will These Girls Ever Rest in Peace?
The Oranckay first reported about the MBC interview with SGT Mark Walker who was driving the tracked vehicle in June 2002 that accidentally ran over and killed two young Korean girls. The Stars and Stripes has picked up on the story now:
Former Army Sgt. Mark Walker is still haunted by the day three years ago when the U.S. military vehicle he was driving killed two South Korean girls on a country road in Uijongbu, according to a news segment that aired in South Korea late Friday night.
“I know there was nothing I could have done to stop it,†he said during an interview at a McDonald’s in the Atlanta area in April. “I have flashbacks every day.â€
Walker granted the interview in April with producers from “W,†a South Korean news magazine that airs each Friday night on the network MBC. He told the network he lost 50 pounds during the subsequent trial and that he sleeps four hours a night, if he’s lucky.
Kim Hyun-Chul, an MBC producer and director, said he wanted the 20-minute news story to explore the American perspective of the controversial and traumatic accident. Kim and his colleagues went to the States last month and spent 10 days trying to find Walker.
They used Web searches on America Online, inquiries to the U.S. military and even random phone calls to dozens of people named Mark Walker in Atlanta before finding the right one, the segment showed. When they finally interviewed him, he agreed to a microphone but not an up-close camera shot.
Here is Walker’s and the Army’s version of what happened:
On June 13, 2002, Walker was driving a 60-ton tracked bridge carrier along Highway 56 in the northern part of the country as part of a convoy. According to court-martial testimony, Walker didn’t see the two 13-year-old girls as the vehicle went up a hill and rounded a curve. After his commander spotted the girls, Walker tried to brake, but the vehicle’s momentum carried them forward and they crushed the girls, according to U.S. military officials’ accounts of the accident.
This would seem to be a tragic accident but the internet rumor mill in Korea destroyed any search for the truth of this accident. The power of the internet is definitely displayed by this case. Many rational thinking Korean people believe Walker ran the girls over on purpose and the Army is covering it up and Walker should be rotting in a Korean prison.
I have had KATUSAs tell me they think the guy ran the girls over on purpose and then backed up on them again to make sure they were dead. Then the rumors about him celebrating after the accident and then joking about it once he got back to camp and caused a fight with a KATUSA. Many of these rational thinking people will tell you there is video of these incidents on the internet to prove their claims, though when asked to produce them no one can. Because they only exist in the collective minds of the people that pass these rumors to bash the US military for their own seperate reasons.
The MBC interview of course made sure to take the mandatory cheap shot at the US military:
The segment, which aired during South Korean prime time just before midnight Friday night, also addressed some of the failings U.S. troops have had in other foreign countries, including scenes from prison abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
What Abu Graib has to do with something that happened in 2002 is beyond me, especially considering the soldiers (I think shitbags is a more appropriate term) involved in that incident are in jail now or at least still standing trial. What happened in Abu Graib it could be argued is the same thing that happens in ROK Army basic training. I don’t think the shitbags at Abu Graib made the terrorists eat feces like the ROK Army does. I would rather be on a dog leash then be forced to eat human feces out of the toilet. So will the Korea media include in every story about the ROK Army the human feces scandal? I think not, but it is a fair comparison.
I want to be cautious here; I fully support and even want the US military here and I don't think the two girls were killed intentionally. I'm certain it was an accident.
However, (and another qualifier: this is just as I remember it, I could well be wrong) I thought the driver was off the hook because of an officer's error and the officer was innocent by way of driver error. Something about the driver's view being blocked; the officer could see but the radio was malfunctioning. am I completely off-base on this?
Brian,
The tracked vehicle they were in, the driver cannot see to his left, so the driver was completely blind to his left when he hit the two girls. The TC on top of the track is supposed to clear the left side of the vehicle. However, in this incident from what I heard through military channels is that they rounded a corner and another convoy was coming at them so the driver began to get over left to make room for the other convoy. Keep in mind this is a very narrow road for track vehicles and track vehicles are on this road all the time and the Korean government had done nothing to widen the roads or make sidewalks. The TC tried to warn the driver about the girls to the left but there was people static on the radio and the driver couldn't hear him initially and by the time he did hear him he had hit the girls. Also keep in mind this all happened within seconds. I have heard the internet rumor which who knows if there is any truth to it that the officer in charge of the convoy knew of the radio problem and told them to roll anyway. I don't know if this is true, however radio problems are a very common occurence in track vehicles so it is not anything extremely unusual to have heavy static suddenly come over the radio. There was alot that could have been done by both the Army and the Korean government to prevent that accident and the blame shouldn't be layed solely on the US Army. Wider roads and sidewalks would of prevented the accident plus all US convoys are approved by the ROK Army. The ROK Army is much more careful about convoys now and the roads in the area have since been widened with sidewalks. Widened roads and sidewalks in this area with continual heavy military traffic and heavy pedestrian traffic would of prevented this accident. Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again.
I was unfortunate enough to have been in Korea during the whole 2002 Race Riot season. The accident was just the spark that Korean youth needed to go on a xenophobic hate-in. I worked in Korean universities for many years and I can tell you that Pyongyang calls the shots as to what happens on the campuses in Korea.
Some good thing have come from 2002; first, USFK is moving out of all bases north of the Han River. In my opinion, ALL of USFK should leave Korea so that the Koreans can GROW UP and learn to accept responsibility for their actions. If the Dear Leader swallows them up so be it, I can get cheap electronics made in China.
Thanks. Oh, and you're right about training for conscripts in the ROK army. I've heard horrible stories and mere stories of corruption. My brothers-in-law are farmboys though, and prefered armylife to farming.
"What Abu Graib has to do with something that happened in 2002 is beyond me."
I think that the producers of the segment may have included the Abu Graib incident to discredit Guy Womack, who defended Charles Grainer, the soldier sentenced to ten years for prisoner abuse there. They seemed to be making the point that Womack defended Grainer, a verifiable bad guy who got sent to prison, so maybe he shouldn't be trusted talking about Walker.
That's the impression I got from watching that piece. I, too, thought the piece should have ended with Walker leaving the MacDonald's.
The segment wasn't anything like I'd expected. Pathetic at points, but more of an attempt at hearing the "other" side than I'd thought.
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