A South Korean court on Wednesday sentenced a US soldier to six years in prison for raping a South Korean teenager last year.

The Seoul Central District Court found Private Kevin Robinson, 21, guilty of raping the girl, then aged 17, at her home in the city in September, a court spokeswoman said.

Crimes by the 28,500 US troops based in South Korea are a sensitive subject in the country, even though many see their presence as necessary to deter an attack by the North.

Last November a court jailed another US soldier for 10 years for raping a 18-year-old girl in Dongducheon city, close to the border with North Korea.

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell offered an apology to the Korean people for that offence.

In the latest case, the private had been drinking with the teenager earlier on the night in question, and the judges said in their verdict he had taken advantage of the girl while she was drunk.

It was not immediately clear whether Robinson would appeal. According to the spokeswoman, he denied intercourse and said he and the girl only performed consensual oral sex.