KMA superintendent to resign

By Kim Tae-jong

Army Lt. Gen. Park Nam-soo, the superintendent of the Korea Military Academy (KMA), offered to resign Thursday to take responsibility for an alleged sexual assault at the school. The 57-year-old lieutenant-general also expressed his wish to be discharged from the military.

“Park offered his resignation to Army Chief of Staff Cho Jung-hwan,” an Army official said.

He has only been in the position for six months.

Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin will decide whether to accept the resignation on June 1 when he comes back from Singapore where he is attending the 12th Asia Security Council meeting.

The abrupt offer to resign came a day after the alleged assault was made public. The Army has already launched an investigation into the case.

Military police have arrested the suspect and the authorities have set up a joint investigation team to investigate the incident, officials said.

They added the Army will announce interim results next week.

According to the military police, some 20 students and 10 professors drank at a lunch on campus during a school festival on May 22 and afterwards a senior male cadet allegedly sexually assaulted a heavily intoxicated female junior in his room.

This is the first reported allegation of sexual abuse involving cadets since women were admitted to the elite military academy in 1998.

Drinking alcohol is generally banned at the school, but students are allowed to during events under the guidance of professors and senior officers after a change in the regulations came into force in September 2011.

According to the military, those who were in charge of the students will be held responsible for the incident if the investigations find them to have been negligent.