12 Army officers face punishment for sexual assault involving cadets

The head of South Korea's elite Army academy will be discharged from his service and 11 other Army officers will face disciplinary action in connection with a sexual assault case involving cadets, the Army said Monday.

Lt. Gen. Park Nam-su, the head of the Korea Military Academy, had offered to retire shortly after a female cadet was sexually assaulted by a senior cadet after drinking with professors and colleagues during a campus festival last Wednesday.

After the female sophomore had vomited due to consuming a lot of alcohol, a senior cadet brought her to his room and assaulted her. The male cadet is now under investigation by state prosecutors, Army officials said.

Two one-star generals and nine lower-level officers, who drank with the victim, will be sent to a disciplinary committee over the incident.

During the festival, 38 professors and students drank after a sporting event, which violates the academy's code of conduct, the Army said.

"The academy chief will be discharged from his service and the disciplinary committee will investigate the other officers who drank together," Maj. Gen. Ryu Sung-sik, who is in charge of Army personnel affairs, said during a briefing. "There was criticism that the Army was late to disclose the incident, but we were cautious because the victim's parents didn't want the case made public."

The Army said there is a lack of measures in regard to drinking by cadets, pledging to implement stricter rules for drinking on campus and prepare protective measures for female students, including installing a toughened access system with fingerprint readers at women's dorms.

Currently, students at the military academy are allowed to drink with approval from professors, parents and senior officials in limited situations, such as official events and festivals.

The sexual abuse case involving cadets drew much media attention because it was the first time such a case has taken place on campus since women were admitted to the elite military academy in Seoul in 1998.