Georgia soldier at center of South Korean unrest

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Posted 3:06PM on Thursday, October 10, 2002

ATLANTA - A U.S. Army sergeant from Georgia who struck and killed two South Korean girls with a tank during a training mission has become the focus of increasingly violent anti-American protests in that country. Sgt. Mark Walker of Acworth is awaiting court-martial in connection with the deaths June 13 of two 14-year-old girls after they were struck while walking on a narrow road by a 57-ton armored vehicle Walker was driving. Guy Womack, a Houston lawyer who will represent Walker, said his client will be cleared at the court-martial, which he said is being held merely to show the South Koreans that the U.S. takes the incident seriously. "(Walker's) vehicle was in the middle of a convoy," Womack said. "The vehicle was as wide as the road. The two young girls were pedestrians, and, where they were standing in relation to (Walker), he couldn't see them." Womack said the vehicle was traveling only 5-7 mph at the time it hit the girls, identified by Army officials as Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun. The vehicle commander, Sgt. Fernando Nino, also has been charged with two counts of negligent homicide, according to American military officials in South Korea. Both have pleaded innocent. If convicted in the Nov. 21 court-martial, Walker could spend as much as six years in prison and be dishonorably discharged from the Army. Large street demonstrations have arisen around Seoul, the capital, since the accident, with protesters demanding that that the soldiers be tried in a South Korean court. Last month, South Korean prosecutors announced that faults in the driver's communications equipment prevented him from hearing orders to stop. Walker is not in confinement, but can't leave his base, Womack said, because of the protests and large signs with Walker's picture on them that have been put up around Seoul like wanted posters. Walker's supporters, who call the deaths a tragic accident and say the soldier is facing court-martial because of political pressure, are planning a Nov. 16 rally in Acworth to raise money for his legal bills. His sister, Lynn Samples, who lives in the Atlanta area, said she is concerned about Walker's safety. U.S. military officials, who have denied that political pressure spurred the decision to court-martial the two men, have issued several apologies to the families of the girls. The 2nd Infantry Division also helped to build a memorial near the site of the accident.