By Jun Ji-hye
The Ministry of National Defense launched a taskforce Friday to investigate suspicious deaths of soldiers.
The taskforce, under the direct control of Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk, will seek to promptly answer questions involving the mysterious deaths, which are suspected of being the result of abuse.
“The taskforce will work to fundamentally solve inconsistencies regarding soldiers who died under mysterious circumstances,” the ministry said in a press release.
For the next year, the team will investigate the deaths and restore the honor of victims and their relatives if it was damaged.
As of Friday, the ministry has received 58 complaints from bereaved families who called for a re-investigation into the deaths of their sons. The family members said they could not trust the results of initial probes conducted by the military.
“We will make every effort to resolve the issues and regain public trust in the military,” Suh said. “We also need to reinstate the honor of the victims.”
On the same day, the ministry said it had decided to acknowledge that Army First Lt. Kim Hun, who died in a bunker at the Joint Security Area in the truce village of Panmunjeom in 1998, died while on duty, reversing an earlier decision that he committed suicide.
At the time, Kim was found dead of a gunshot wound, with military investigators hastily concluding that he killed himself.
But the suspicion that his death was a homicide has been consistently raised as some evidence _ such as his damaged wristwatch _ showed he probably had a fight with somebody before he died.
Kim’s father dedicated himself for 19 years to find the facts behind the death of his son.
Following the ministry’s decision, Kim’s ashes are expected to be soon placed at a national cemetery.