"Say Long Live Kim Jong-un"... Senior Officer Who Committed Brutal Acts Fined

Repeated Abuse and Assault on 10 Members Within Unit
Forced to Lie Face Down and Attend Religious Events

A man in his 20s who habitually assaulted and harassed junior soldiers during his military service was sentenced to a fine.

Image unrelated to the article content.

On the 24th, Judge Hyun Sun-hye of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 10 sentenced A (24), who was tried on charges of abuse of power, coercion, and assault, to a fine of 7 million won.

A was indicted for ordering two junior soldiers to say "Long live Kim Jong-un, long live Putin" at around 10:30 p.m. on September 10 last year at a military barracks in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and assaulting them five times with his fists when they refused.

In mid-August of the same year, he also poured water from a box on a junior soldier who was showering in the unit’s shower room, causing him to fall.

He also assaulted junior soldiers by pushing them or pressing hard on their crowns with a model gun used as a teaching aid, claiming it was to test their reflexes.

Additionally, he repeatedly subjected junior soldiers who were showering to harsh treatment by making them lie face down naked. He forced junior soldiers to attend religious events and assaulted them by pressing their necks and twisting their arms if they refused.

It was investigated that a total of 10 victims within the same unit suffered assault or harsh treatment from A.

Judge Hyun stated, "Considering the nature of the defendant’s crimes, the offense is serious," but added, "The defendant mostly admitted to the crimes, and all the victims expressed that they did not want punishment during the investigation process," explaining the sentencing rationale.

Meanwhile, issues of harsh treatment in the military arise every year. According to a 2021 "Military Culture Public Opinion Survey" of 500 reservists in their 20s and 30s, over 70% of respondents said they had witnessed military abuse, and 59.8% said they had directly experienced abuse.

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