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| Kim Seong-jun, center, head of the Office of Personnel and Welfare at the Ministry of National Defense, presides over the first meeting of the military's task force to improve the military's sex crime prevention system, at the ministry headquarters in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense |
By Jung Da-min
Following a series of sex crimes, the military is seeking measures to stop sexual violence by launching a task force to improve the military's sexual violence prevention system.
Still, criticism is mounting that such a move is belated, and that the fundamental problem lies not with the system, but with the military's practice of concealing problems and propagating distorted gender stereotypes.
The Ministry of National Defense on Monday launched the temporary taskforce to improve the military's sexual violence prevention system. The taskforce will be in operation until August.
Public outrage over the issue of the military's poor handling of such crimes within the organization recently escalated in response to the case of a female Air Force master sergeant, who was found dead at her residence, May 22, about two months after a fellow master sergeant sexually assaulted her in a car on their way back from a drinking session that she was forced to attend. It was alleged that the Air Force failed to properly investigate the case, did not provide the victim proper counselling and rather attempted to cover up the incident. Several other sex crimes cases have also since been made public, including a spycam case in the Air Force and a male senior service member's sexual assault of a junior member in the Marine Corps.
Despite the defense force's silence on such issues, many military sex crime cases have been revealed by Military Human Rights Korea, a civic advocacy group, a point that critics argue is proof that service members have lost confidence in the military's ability to deal with such issues internally.
"The retrograde awareness level and poor responses to sexual violence in the military, which were revealed in the sexual assault case of the Air Force, are shocking to the public," said Rep. Jun Joo-hyae, a spokeswoman of the conservative main opposition People Power Party.
"The Air Force police's poor investigation, which aimed at covering up the case, revealed the military's indifference to the protection of victims," Jun said, adding that the Air Force prosecutors' office did not follow the due procedures of confiscating the cell phone of the assailant immediately, but in fact did so five days after the search warrant was issued.
The PPP also proposed a parliamentary investigation and a hearing of the case.
The liberal minor opposition Justice Party leader, Yeo Young-guk, also said that a parliamentary hearing is needed.
"This is not the first case of sexual assault in the military. In the wake of the deaths of female soldiers who were sexually assaulted in 2013 and 2017, the military announced comprehensive measures for eradicating sexual violence and prepared measures, such as expanding education about sexual violence prevention and strengthening the organization dedicated to prevention. The military also created a work manual for supporting sexual violence victims in the military. But we have now seen yet another death," Yeo said.
"It is the inevitable result of the military's perverse gender-insensitivity and of the closed and hierarchical macho culture, which views female service members only as sexual objects, not fellow members," he said.
For his part, President Moon Jae-in called for overall follow-up measures to improve the military culture, saying that a fundamental improvement is needed to prevent the recurrence of sex crimes.
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