Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Ex-Marine commander gets 3-year sentence over conscript’s death
Lim Seong-geun, former commander of the Marine Corps 1st Division, enters a building for questioning in Seoul, in this Oct. 31, 2025, file photo. Lim was sentenced to three years in prison, Friday, on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death and violating a military order. Newsis
By Jung Min-ho
A former Marine commander has been sentenced to three years in prison over the death of a young conscript who was swept away and killed during a river search operation in 2023.
The Seoul Central District Court on Friday convicted Lim Seong-geun, former commander of the Marine Corps 1st Division, of occupational negligence resulting in death and violating a military order.
He was indicted over the death of Cpl. Chae Soo-geun (then a private), who was swept away by strong currents and died while taking part in a search operation for a missing resident in the Naeseong Stream in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, on July 19, 2023.
A panel of judges, led by Cho Hyung-woo, also handed suspended or custodial sentences to four other officers involved.
Park Sang-hyun, former commander of the 7th Brigade of the 1st Marine Division, and Choi Jin-kyu, former commander of the division’s 11th Artillery Battalion, who oversaw operations in the flood-hit area, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison. Former 7th Artillery Battalion Commander Lee Yong-min, the immediate superior of the headquarters company to which Chae belonged, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, while former headquarters company commander, known only as his surname Jang, received an eight-month sentence suspended for two years.
“Chae, who was 20 years old, lost his life just four months after joining the Marine Corps,” the court said. “The division and brigade commanders were focused solely on achieving the ‘result’ of finding the missing person. They issued orders for ‘active, aggressive searches,’ telling the troops that ‘simply looking from the road is not a search; you must go down into the area, thoroughly push through the brush.’ In doing so, however, they neglected the risks to the physical safety and lives of the soldiers.”
The judges added that the troops were not properly equipped for the operation with items such as life jackets.
The court also ruled that Lim was guilty of exercising command authority by continuing to direct operations on site, even though a fragmentary order had been issued transferring operational control to the Army.
“If Lim had refrained from such orders or interference and left all operational command to the brigade commander, the search operation on July 19 could have proceeded, as it did on the morning of the previous day, in a normal manner that allowed road-level checks of the danger zone in accordance with the commanders’ discretion in assessing risk. For this reason, Lim bears the greatest responsibility for this accident,” the court said.
The case has been politically charged amid allegations that then-President Yoon Suk Yeol and his office tried to shield senior commanders from criminal liability by pressuring the Marine Corps' investigative team, with liberal parties and the victim's family accusing him of improper interference in the probe.