PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — South Korean authorities in Kunsan have issued arrest warrants for a U.S. airman and a civilian man who allegedly took part in an attack on a cab driver that led to troops being restricted to base.
Kunsan police previously have said two of the suspects in the April 23 incident are Air Force police officers with Kunsan’s 8th Security Forces Squadron. A third suspect is a civilian who had worked at a health products store on the base, police have said.
Prosecutors did not identify the airman and civilian who face arrest, nor was there any immediate word on the second airman police have questioned in the incident.
Prosecutors said they are working with the U.S. Air Force in pursuing their case.
Police have said the three admitted attacking the driver because they wanted to drive themselves to a Jeonju city nightclub.
The cab driver, 48-year-old Lee Ki-jung, said he was hospitalized for nerve damage, head, knee and other injuries sustained in the incident. He was discharged from Kunsan Medical Center on May 4, but he has said he would require outpatient care.
The incident led then-wing commander Col. Jeffrey Lofgren to restrict servicemembers to base for more than five days.
Lofgren said at the time that he’d imposed the restriction to impress upon each servicemember that conduct toward the local community must be “above reproach.”
On Thursday, wing spokeswoman Capt. Tiffany G. Payette said wing officials are assisting South Korean authorities in the case.
Hwang Hae-rym contributed to this report.
