Soldier Who Died While on Leave Found to Be Victim of Unit Negligence... Human Rights Commission Urges "Reevaluation of Line-of-Duty Death Review"

"Review Without Considering All Victim Circumstances"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recommended the Ministry of National Defense on the 19th to reexamine whether the soldier who died while on leave during military service should be recognized as having died in the line of duty, after the Army classified the death as a 'general death.'

The petitioner is the family of the deceased soldier, Mr. A, who enlisted in January 2019. They claimed that Mr. A was bullied by unit members and officers during his service, but the unit's response and management were inadequate. Due to negligence in personnel management and failure to properly monitor Mr. A, he ultimately died. They filed a petition with the NHRCK in April this year.

Through its investigation, the NHRCK confirmed that the officers of Mr. A's unit failed to properly manage his personal affairs, assigned him to three consecutive night duties, reprimanded him for dozing off during night duty, and that the sleeping environment in the barracks was poor and remained unimproved until the accident occurred despite requests for improvement. It was also confirmed that Mr. A wrote about feelings of isolation and depression related to military service in his diary and did not receive support from military life counselors or other assistance. Additionally, the Army Headquarters’ Military Service Death Review Committee had classified Mr. A’s death as a 'general death,' citing insufficient causal relationship with official duties such as job performance or training.

Accordingly, the NHRCK judged that the Army made the decision based solely on superficial job performance circumstances without comprehensively considering the surrounding environment and other relevant factors of Mr. A. The NHRCK stated, "Such measures represent a failure of the state to fulfill its fundamental responsibility to protect the life and safety of soldiers and infringe upon the honor rights derived from Article 10 of the Constitution for victims who died during the period of fulfilling their national defense duties."

The NHRCK recommended that the Minister of National Defense reconsider the Military Service Death Review by taking into account all circumstances surrounding the victim to restore Mr. A’s honor.

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