Top U.S. non-commissioned officer tells troops in S. Korea to behave

The U.S. Army's top non-commissioned officer on Monday urged American troops stationed in South Korea to behave like "professionals," in light of the jailing of a U.S. soldier for a sex crime. Speaking to U.S. soldiers and their families here, Raymond F. Chandler III, the sergeant major of the U.S. Army, said service members should adhere to the Army's standards of behavior. "We are professionals," Chandler said. "So from that, you have the expectation that in someone else's country, you are going to be professional and a person who is culturally astute, a diplomat for the American people." Chandler is here for an annual visit to South Korea by the U.S. Army's sergeants major. Chandler assumed his current post in March this year. Chandler's words come less than a week after a U.S. Army private was sentenced to 10 years in jail for sexually assaulting an 18-year-old South Korean woman in September. Separately, another U.S. soldier is under investigation for an alleged sexual assault against a teenager in September. These cases have prompted the U.S. forces here to reinstate a curfew on its soldiers across South Korea that was withdrawn in July. They first imposed a 30-day curfew in early October and last week decided to extend it until early next year. Chandler said he would defer to the senior Army leadership in South Korea in affairs involving U.S. soldiers and the local government, but added such acts of misconduct don't define the U.S. Army. "Any act of misconduct is bad. It doesn't matter where it is and where it happens," Chandler said. "It is even magnified or made worse (when) you are in someone else's country as a guest and that is not just OK." Chandler served in South Korea from 1999 to 2000 in Dongducheon, about 40 kilometers north of Seoul, a home to several U.S. military units. He said the U.S. forces have a lot to learn from their South Korean allies. "One of the things I always admire about the Korean Army is adherence to standards and discipline," Chandler said. "We have a lot to learn from each other. I am not to say the American way is better or Korean way is better, but together we are both better." About 28,500 U.S. soldiers serve in South Korea. Their presence is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, and left the two Koreas technically at war.