Korean officer caught in UAE after going AWOL

A Korean non-commissioned officer stationed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was caught less than 24 hours after he'd gone missing from his unit in the eastern part of the Middle East country, officials here said Monday.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul, the officer, an Army Staff Sergeant surnamed Kim, was nabbed by a fellow soldier at a shopping mall in Al Ain, around 1 p.m., Korean Standard Time. Kim had left the base without permission around 6:40 p.m. on Sunday.

JCS officials said Kim, 21, was in his track suit and was not armed when he was caught. He was dispatched to the UAE on Jan. 10, they added.

Kim was part of the Akh unit, a contingent tasked with training UAE's special forces and conducting combined exercises. The word "Akh" means brother in Arabic. The first batch of South Korean troops traveled to the UAE in January last year.

Officials said Akh troops and local police had searched downtown Al Ain, after obtaining evidence of Kim's debit card use in the city.

"A military police investigator who has been sent to the UAE is trying to find out why Kim left the base," a JCS official here explained. "Depending on the findings, we will determine the severity of punishment and whether he should be returned home."

The official added no physical or verbal abuse had taken place at the Akh unit. Such abuses are often cited as reasons for young soldiers' unauthorized leave of absences or, in worse cases, suicides in Korea. (Yonhap)