1967 was the first year that US troops were allowed to be tried in a Korean court under the newly signed US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Prior to the SOFA, US troops caught committing crimes in South Korea were tried in US military court martial. The first US servicemember tried in a Korean court was US Air Force Staff Sergent Billy Cox who was convicted in a taxi cab related incident. However, the first servicemember tried in the death of a Korean national was US Army Specialist John Vaughn.
Vaughn was a 20 year old Specialist from Douglasville, Georgia assigned to E Battery, 4th Missile Battalion, 44th Artillery outside of Kunsan where he served as a unit medic. Vaughn was accused of throwing a block of wood from the back of a moving vehicle and fatally killing 59 year old Dok-sin Yi who was a fish peddler riding a bicycle that the truck passed. What is especially interesting about this trial is not only is it the first trial of a US servicemember accused of killing a Korean national handled in a Korean court, but also the incident happened while on duty. What this means is that USFK voluntarily gave up jurisdiction for this case since any crime committed on duty is supposed to be handled by the US military. Considering how South Korea was in the midst of an attempted insurgency operation by North Korea at the time maybe the USFK leadership felt that even a case like this one that should have been tried by a court martial would be best to have in a Korean court to avoid any political repercussions?
Whatever the reasons, Vaughn found himself on trial in a Korean court and it may have actually worked out to his advantage. Vaughn claimed he accidentally dropped the wood from the truck that struck and killed Mr. Yi. The Korean Judge said that the prosecutors could not prove that Vaughn intentionally dropped the piece of wood from the truck that struck Mr. Yi. Due to this fact the judge convicted Vaughn of manslaughter and fined him 30,000 won which in 1967 was worth about $110. In addition to the $110 that Vaughn had to pay, USFK already paid the victim’s family $2,200 as well in compensation for the accident. Overall I would have to think that Specialist Vaughn must have felt pretty lucky to not have been convicted of more serious charges and only had to pay a $110 fine even if the death of Mr. Yi was an accident.
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