hankyoreh

March 4. (by Ryu Woo-jong

By Choi Yu-bin and Heo Jae-hyun, staff reporters

Lim Seong-mook, now in his third year as a police officer, had a cast all the way from his left foot to his thigh. He managed to avoid a fracture, but the muscles and ligaments were injured. “I thought I might die,” he said, blinking as he lay on a hospital bed. “At first I didn’t even notice the pain. I just put the situation first.”

Memories of the late-night chase two days ago are still fresh in the mind of police officer Lim Seong-mook. From Saturday night until Sunday morning (March 2-3), he chased a group of US soldiers who were causing a disturbance in downtown Seoul, before he was eventually struck by their car, suffering injuries to his left knee and sole. The 30-year-old policeman with the Itaewon branch of Yongsan Police Station, was just on his usual beat around the Itaewon neighborhood at the time.

When he heard the taxi driver talk about a “hit-and-run,” his immediate thought was, “I’ve got to catch them.” That split-second decision changed everything. He got in a taxi, which gave chase through the downtown streets at over 150 km an hour. He also discharged his weapon at a soldier who was threatening him with his vehicle. At the same time, he ended up the biggest victim of the ruckus. He is currently hospitalized in Seoul’s Songpa district.

Meeting with reporters in his hospital bed on March 4, Lim said he clearly saw the driver with a calm expression on his face as he drove straight at him in a blind alley. Despite the circumstances, he shot at the tire, not the driver.

“The rules for firearms are that they should be used minimally,” he explained. “So I shot at the passenger-side tire.”

He added that he believes the injury to the soldier in the driver’s seat resulted from a stray bullet. “They’ll have to identify it,” he shrugged.

Lim, who holds a fourth-degree black belt in hapkido and a second-degree black belt in taekwondo, said his workout regimen may be the reason he was not hurt as badly as he expected to be.

Meanwhile, the USFK soldier who fled the scene was questioned on March 4 by police. The car’s owner, a 26-year-old staff sergeant identified by the initial “L,” appeared at Yongsan Police Station for questioning at around 2 pm with two attorneys and returned to base immediately afterwards. A 22-year-old American woman who was in the vehicle with them was confirmed to be a corporal, not a civilian worker as was initially reported. She too was questioned as a suspect by police.

“L,” did not appear before police. A source with the police said he had told them he was still being treated at a hospital within the Eighth Army barracks and would not be available for questioning immediately.

Details have also surfaced to suggest that the soldiers attempted to destroy evidence. At around 8:55 am on March 3, the Optima driven by the soldiers was spotted at an overpass in the Munbae neighborhood of Yongsan district. A source with police said the license plate had been removed and hidden inside the car. BB bullets for a fake gun were also found in the vehicle.

Police believe “L” and the other soldiers were firing the BBs at people from their car and took off the license plate to avoid being tracked before fleeing inside the US military base.

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