U.S. soldier sentenced to 30 years in prison

SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. military court sentenced an American soldier to 30 years in jail Thursday for sexually assaulting a South Korean soldier.\nTwo other American soldiers have been questioned in the attack but not charged.\nSgt. Leng Sok was court-martialed at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, north of Seoul. He was found guilty of aggravated assault, indecent acts, sodomy, submission of a false official statement and conspiracy, said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a spokesman for the U.S. Eighth Army.\nA panel of seven officers, three noncommissioned, sentenced Sok, who is of Thai descent, to serve 30 years in jail in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Boylan said. Sok can appeal the ruling.\nThe sergeant was also reduced to the rank of private and will forfeit all his pay and allowances while in jail, Boylan said. He will receive a dishonorable discharge after serving out his sentence.\nSok, who had served in the division artillery of the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division in South Korea, belonged to the 21st Infantry Regiment in Fort Lewis, Wash.\nThe victim was one of 4,600 South Koreans serving with the U.S. military in a group known as the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army, or KATUSA.\nHe was assaulted last March at a training center at Camp Jackson, a U.S. military base north of Seoul. The U.S. military declined to release information on the victim, including whether he is still serving with the U.S. military.\nSouth Korean authorities had primary jurisdiction because the assault took place while Sok was off duty but "given the nature of the case" decided to hand it over, Boylan said, without elaborating.\nOfficials at South Korea's Justice Ministry were not immediately available for comment.