There Was No Female Public Defender at All to Help the Female Sergeant

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] It has been revealed that there is no female public defender assigned to represent the victim in the Air Force non-commissioned officer sexual harassment death case within the Air Force.

At the National Defense Committee meeting, Kwon In-sook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out, “There are about 20 female legal officers in the Air Force, but they are stationed at the Air Force Headquarters and other locations, so female victims cannot be assigned female legal officers.” She also said, “There are various support systems available for female soldiers who are victims of sexual assault, but the support manual was not properly followed.”

In response, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Jeong Sang-hwa said, “Since the dedicated lawyer system was introduced last year, female legal officers were unable to provide representation.”

The Ministry of National Defense declared a ‘War on Sexual Crimes’ in 2015 and established a ‘Comprehensive Plan to Eradicate Sexual Violence.’ At that time, the Ministry prioritized selecting female mentors and public defenders throughout the entire process of handling cases. This measure was taken considering that female victims would find it difficult to communicate smoothly with male public defenders.

However, the first public defender assigned to Staff Sergeant Lee was male. The second public defender was also male. The bereaved family claims that the public defenders never met with Staff Sergeant Lee until her death and effectively neglected the victim, who suffered secondary harm such as coercion.

On this day, Representative Kwon criticized, “Female soldiers are repeatedly treated not as comrades but as mere decorations at drinking parties. I cannot understand why the Minister has not paid attention to this issue.”

She also criticized, “Minimum confidentiality to protect sexual assault victims is not maintained, while materials that should be disclosed are hidden and the process remains closed.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.