Remembering Yun Geum-i
October 28, 2025
Posted in: Media • Political Education
Please note: This post discusses disturbing and horrific details of murder, sexual violence, and militarized violence against women. Please take care in viewing.
On October 28, 1992, U.S. Private Kenneth Markle tortured, raped, and murdered 26-year-old Yun Geum-i, a Korean woman who was working in a 기지촌 (“kijichon”) or military camptown, in Dongducheon, South Korea. Markle was initially sentenced to life in prison, but an appeals court reduced the sentence to 15 years imprisonment. The South Korean Supreme Court upheld the reduced sentence, and he served 13.5 years before being released on parole and returning to the U.S. Markle was one of the first U.S. soldiers to be tried in a South Korean court for a crime of this nature.
The U.S.-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed in July 1966, provides broad protections to U.S. military personnel from being prosecuted under South Korean law. SOFA is a harmful and unequal agreement that precludes US military liability. Host governments are in different power positions in relation to the U.S., yet none of them come to the SOFA negotiations as equal partners with the U.S.
Yun’s horrific murder and rape sparked nationwide protests and renewed criticism of the U.S. military occupation of Korea, including the impunity of U.S. soldiers under the SOFA and the U.S. government’s complicity in allowing soldiers to escape justice.
This is not unique to just Korea. Sexual violence and impunity for perpetrators occur in the Philippines, Okinawa, Guam, and all places marked by U.S. military occupation. Violence against women is inseparable from U.S. militarism everywhere. Intertwined with the global proliferation of U.S. military bases is a horrific pattern of sexual violence, femicide, sex trafficking, and human rights violations perpetrated by soldiers.
Activists gathered to mourn Yun Geum-i today in Dongducheon in a commemorative vigil, where organizers reflected on the long history of U.S. military violence in Korea. We honor Yun Geum-i, and all women who have faced the brunt of U.S. miltarism and violence.
Slides 2,13: Photo credit Madeleine Han