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| Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo checks equipment used to clear land mines at a site of the removal project in an area south of the Han River, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense |
By Jung Da-min
The military has come under fire for lax discipline after a series of incidents in the Army, including one in which a corporal assaulted an officer commanding his company with an entrenching shovel.
The male corporal, 22, allegedly hit the female officer in the arm April 1, when the two were discussing the corporal's complaints about "hard work" in a recent operation for fire protection in a shooting range where he was mobilized. The officer reportedly received injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment.
Before that incident, which was belatedly made public Monday, there was another case in which four non-commissioned Army officers allegedly sexually harassed one of their superior officers. According to officials, the male suspects allegedly visited the male senior officer's residence last month and had physical contact with him.
On April 14, several Army officers participated in a drinking session when such gatherings had been banned as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19, and one of them was charged with sexually harassing a civilian. An Army general was also accused of mobilizing soldiers to build a chicken coop at his official residence, although he said he did not directly give such an instruction.
These incidents showing the military's lax discipline has continued followin a series of intrusions by civilians onto its bases earlier this year, which led to criticism of poor surveillance protocols and lax security.
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo called on military personnel to display a higher sense of ethics and vowed severe punishment for those who lack discipline, in his latest letter to the military, the third letter this year and the 11th since he was appointed as the defense minister in September 2018.
"There have been some cases where service members' human rights have been violated under unreasonable commands, where subordinates humiliate superiors, where some were involved in online sex crimes and online gambling," Jeong said in the letter, Sunday. "In all cases, the legitimate exercise of command according to laws and regulations should be guaranteed, while at the same time the basic human rights of service members should be protected."
The Army also said in a statement that the military authorities will punish any guilty parties connected to the recent incidents severely according to relevant laws and regulations based on the results of investigations. "We are aware of the graveness of these cases," it said.
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