This Defense, No "Instruction to Exclude Specific Individuals" Regarding Military Service Investigation

Attendance at National Assembly Defense Committee, Former Director Park Jeong-hoon Denies Allegations of Case Downplaying and External Pressure

Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop stated regarding the death of Marine Corporal Chae Sang-byeong, "Neither I nor anyone else, including the minister, instructed to exclude or include any specific individual."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 21st, Minister Lee appeared at the National Assembly's National Defense Committee plenary session and dismissed former Marine Investigation Unit Chief Park Jeong-hoon's claims of case minimization and external pressure, saying, "I never instructed to exclude specific commanders such as Im Seong-geun, commander of the 1st Marine Division, from the suspects of professional negligence resulting in death."

The Ministry of National Defense Investigation Headquarters announced the "Review Results of the Marine Corps Death Accident" on the same day, deciding to forward the case to the police without specifying charges against four individuals, including Division Commander Im Seong-geun and 7th Brigade Commander Park Sang-hyun, among the eight initially judged to have charges during the preliminary investigation. Originally, the Marine Investigation Unit had investigated Commander Im as a suspect of negligence resulting in death, but the charges were removed.

The Investigation Headquarters explained, "Among the four individuals in the command chain related to the search activities or assigned as on-site controllers, issues were identified; however, due to some contradictory testimonies and other circumstances, it was limited to specify criminal charges based solely on the current records." However, the headquarters recognized criminal charges against two individuals who violated the brigade commander's directive that entry was only allowed up to the height of boots by ordering entry up to the waist, and decided to prepare a notification of recognition and transfer it to the police.

Minister Lee also emphasized, "Considering that the investigation was conducted by the Marine Investigation Unit on that day, I approved the report, but judged that it was necessary to review the opinions raised during the briefing the next day, so I instructed the cancellation of explanations to the National Assembly and media and the suspension of police referral," adding, "The actions of the Marine Investigation Unit Chief were a 'serious military discipline violation' for disobeying the legitimate orders of the Marine Corps Commander and weakened military command authority and disrupted discipline."

Regarding the late Corporal Chae Mo's case, the Ministry of National Defense decided to forward the case to the police without specifying charges against Marine 1st Division Commander Im Seong-geun, only stating the facts. The Ministry plans to promptly deliver the review results of the Investigation Headquarters and the original investigation records of the Marine Investigation Unit to the Gyeongbuk Police Agency, which has jurisdiction over the case.

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