By Kim Hyun-bin
The top court has upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced two members of the military to two years in prison, each, for habitually assaulting their subordinates, Thursday.
“We found the suspects guilty after reviewing the evidence,” the Supreme Court said in the ruling.
The two suspects, First Lieutenant Choi and Staff Sergeant Kim, were indicted for assault, intimidation and hazing of more than 10 soldiers stationed at a general outpost in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, from 2016 to 2017.
The two were violent and abusive toward their subordinates, including using an iron-cutting machine to break soldiers' fingernails as well as taping soldiers' hands to pull-up bars.
A local court initially sentenced Choi and Kim to jail terms of three years, but an appellate court reduced it to two years after rejecting several hazing and verbal assault charges.