A man walks near Pyeongtaek Station in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Nov. 19, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

South Korean police arrested a U.S. soldier over the weekend on suspicion of punching a teenager in Pyeongtaek, the city adjacent to the Army’s Camp Humphreys, and fracturing his jaw.

Police did not identify the soldier, who was handed over to U.S. military police shortly after his arrest early Sunday morning, a Pyeongtaek police detective told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

Eighth Army spokesman Kim Dae Hwan acknowledged a request by Stars and Stripes for comment but had not responded by 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The soldier, a noncommissioned officer in his mid-30s assigned to Humphreys, was arguing with a Korean woman outside Pyeongtaek Station around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when he made eye contact with the younger man passing on the street, according to a second detective who spoke by phone to Stars and Stripes.

“The soldier and the adolescent then got into an altercation, which escalated into an assault,” he said.

South Korean government officials typically speak to the media only on condition of anonymity. Police do not identify individuals under arrest, citing privacy laws in South Korea.

Someone in the teen’s group called police, who separated the two at the scene, according to the first detective. The soldier had alcohol on his breath but was not intoxicated, he said.

“We don’t know why the fight happened, [or] what the two men were doing around the subway station before the quarrel,” he said.

The teen’s teeth also were broken, and he had trouble answering questions because of his injuries, the first detective said. Police were uncertain of his age.

The two will be further questioned later, police said.