Bush Apologizes Over South Korea Schoolgirl Deaths
By www.BBC.com

SEOUL (Reuters) - President Bush apologized to the South Korean people on Wednesday over a road accident in which a U.S. Army vehicle crushed two schoolgirls to death, prompting anti-American protests.

The accident in June, and the court martial acquittal of the vehicle's driver and navigator last week, sparked angry street demonstrations and calls for the withdrawal of 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

The emotive court case concluded as South Korea and the United States were grappling with North Korea's newly revealed nuclear arms program, which requires a delicate balancing of interests between Seoul and Washington.

At a special news conference on Wednesday following days of protest, including the student firebombing of a U.S. Army base, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard passed on Bush's apology.

"President Bush, who has visited Korea and has a special feeling for the Korean people, has been touched by this tragedy," Hubbard said.

"Just this morning, the president sent me a message asking me to convey his apologies to the families of the girls, to the government of the Republic of Korea and to the people of Korea," he said.

Adding his own words, Hubbard said: "Let me say from the depths of my heart that the losses of these girls will not be forgotten."

The two 13-year-olds were crushed by a tank-like mineclearing vehicle while walking on a village road near the heavily fortified border with North Korea.

The court martial's finding that the two soldiers were not guilty of negligent homicide prompted political parties to demand revision of a bilateral treaty granting the U.S. military legal jurisdiction in cases involving soldiers on duty.

North Korea and some activists in the South have seized on the accident to press for the withdrawal of the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea under a 50-year-old alliance set up to deter aggression from the communist North.

A U.S. military court found Sergeant Mark Walker, the driver of the armored vehicle, innocent of the charge on Friday. The navigator of the vehicle, Sergeant Fernando Nino, was acquitted two days earlier.
Walker and Nino issued statements of apology on Wednesday.