hankyoreh

An ordinary ‘‘ajumma,’’ or housewife, named Kang Yeong-suk is seeking justice against the GI who fled after hitting her with his car. By taking action, she is hoping to send the message that he cannot receive special treatment in South Korea just because he is a U.S. soldier. Kang talked with us about the hit-and-run accident.

Kang, a 43-year-old resident of Ichon-dong, Seoul, was walking near Ichon subway station with her 5-year-old son late at night on May 30, when a car hit Kang’s left shoulder, stopping briefly before taking off again. She expected that the driver would get out of the car to apologize. Instead, he rolled his window, just half-way, said a quick, ‘‘Sorry,’’ and drove away. Kang tried to memorize the license plate number, but could only remember the last four numbers.

‘‘I was confused because he was an American serviceman and, moreover, I wasn’t hurt seriously. At first, I thought that he was not a bad man. However, the current situation - in which a person who committed wrong thinks he can get away as if nothing has happened - is wrong,’’ said Kang.

Kang, after deciding that she would report the incident to the police, searched through the parking lot of a nearby apartment building through which she saw the car enter, to find the vehicle of the person who had hit her. Finally, after two hours, she found the car and noted the number. The next day, she gave her report to the Yongsan Police Station.

Kang finally met the soldier at the police station on June 21, after the police demanded three times that he present himself. There, Kang hand-delivered a letter she had written to the soldier. She had taken considerable time and effort to write the letter entirely in English and by consulting a dictionary. In the letter, Kang wrote, ‘‘I was very angry with your rude manner, assuming that you would not act [in this way if we were in America] or toward an American...If you have common sense and have high regard for honor, you should aplogize politely and compensate [me] for expenses incurred by the accident.’’

In the end, the solider apologized and paid her medical expenses - which amounted to 67,500 won.

Kang and said she had not previously taken an interest in social issues. ‘‘I came to recognize that my rights were more important than I had thought, when I was directly confronted with losing them,’’ said Kang. ‘‘At first, I was not certain that the matter could be resolved because of his being an American soldier. I appreciate that the police have conducted such a fast investigation,’’ added Kang.

Lee Jang-seon, a police sergeant at the Yongsan station, noted that ‘‘Approximately 5 percent of the traffic accidents within our jurisdiction are connected to U.S. soldiers, due to the fact that the Yongsan Garrison is stationed on our beat. We treated the accident like any other.’’