I'm a military spouse in Korea and was involved in a fight off base — Korean police are calling me. Do they have jurisdiction over a SOFA dependent, or does the military handle it?

Both messages are true, and they are not in conflict. Under the US–Korea SOFA, Korea has primary jurisdiction over an offense by a dependent that violates Korean law and is unconnected to official duty; the Korean police investigator is therefore acting within his authority. "Handled under SOFA" means the US side has been notified, may request a waiver of Korean jurisdiction, and retains certain protections for you — it does not mean the Korean case has been taken away. Whether this goes to a Korean court depends on two things: whether Korea waives, and whether the injured man is settled with. Go to the station, but not alone, and not before your lawyer has spoken to the investigator.

What this is under Korean law

A push that causes a laceration is investigated as bodily injury (상해, sanghae) under Article 257 of the Criminal Act — up to seven years' imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 10 million — rather than simple assault, because there is an injury requiring treatment. Injury is not an offense the victim's will controls; a settlement (합의, hapui) does not end the case automatically but weighs heavily in the prosecutor's decision, and in first-offense cases with a settlement, non-indictment or a modest fine is the common range. Defense of another (정당방위, jeongdang bangwi) is recognized but construed narrowly: a proportionate response to an ongoing attack. Grabbing an arm answered with a shove that causes a head wound is the kind of fact pattern where courts find the response exceeded the threat — which is why the settlement matters more than the argument.

How SOFA works here

The SOFA criminal jurisdiction provisions cover dependents. For offenses under Korean law not arising from official duty, Korea has the primary right to jurisdiction; the US may request a waiver, and Korea has historically granted waivers in a large share of cases involving minor offenses, retaining cases in enumerated serious categories. A restaurant altercation with a minor injury is the kind of case in which a waiver request is plausible, and if granted, the Korean case ends and the US side deals with you administratively. If Korea retains the case, it proceeds through Korean police, prosecutor and, if indicted, a Korean court.

Two SOFA protections apply regardless: the US retains custody of you until indictment in most cases, and a US representative may attend your Korean interviews as an observer. An observer is not a defense lawyer; the interview is still a Korean criminal interview, in which you are a suspect.

"Wait" from the unit legal office reflects the waiver process, which takes time. The Korean investigator's request reflects a case that is proceeding in the meantime. Both are happening at once, and the second is the one that decides what is on file if the waiver is denied.

Your situation as a foreign national

You are entitled to an interpreter at the interview; that the investigator speaks English is convenient, not a substitute for a formal interpreter for the record. Consular notification applies if you are detained. Your SOFA status means Korean immigration is not the body deciding your stay; the command's sponsorship review is, and a Korean criminal disposition — or its absence — is what that review reads. For your husband, a dependent's off-base incident is a command matter that ranges from nothing to a sponsorship review; a resolved Korean case with a settlement is the best input to that process. MEGA X handles the Korean criminal case; the command side is the installation's, and the two are coordinated.

What to do now, and what not to do

Do not go to the station on the investigator's schedule without counsel; a friendly English-speaking officer is still building a file. Do not contact the injured man; opening a settlement is counsel's job and the tone of the first approach sets the price. Do obtain your friend's written account of the arm-grab and identify other witnesses; request that the restaurant's CCTV be preserved — restaurants overwrite quickly. Prepare your account with your lawyer before the interview. Tell the unit legal office that you have retained Korean counsel; they will coordinate.

From a former police investigator's perspective

Investigators handling SOFA cases know the waiver process well and know that many of their files will be waived; they build them anyway, because the ones that are not waived go to the prosecutor with whatever is on them. What they weigh in a restaurant injury case is the CCTV, the injury certificate, the sequence of contact, and whether the suspect has settled. A dependent who arrives with counsel, an interpreter, a witness statement and a settlement in progress presents a file that the prosecutor closes with or without a waiver. A dependent who "waited" as instructed and never came in presents a file with only the complainant's story on it.

Send us the investigator's name and station and we can make contact before your interview — text consultation or +82-2-522-3959.

— MEGA X Law Firm Korea, Criminal Defense Team