Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup attended a plenary session of the National Defense Committee in the National Assembly

The Defense Ministry's Criminal Investigation Command explained the results of the re-examination, stating: “There was no instruction to exclude or include specific people”

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup (left in front row) answers questions from a member of the National Assembly at a plenary session of the National Defense Committee on August 21. Yonhap News

At a plenary session of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly on August 21, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said regarding the death of Cpl. Chae, “The Defense Ministry respects the decision of the civilian investigative authority and the court and will prepare measures to prevent the recurrence of the incident by taking necessary steps.” He emphasized that “the Defense Ministry will build a safe and strong military.”

Minister Lee prayed for the repose of the late Marine who died on duty due to an unfortunate accident, and offered condolence to the bereaved family, and talked about the controversy over the incident.

He said, “On July 30, the former Marine Corps’ top investigator judged that a total of eight people were suspected of criminal charges of professional negligence resulting in death and reported investigation results, and I approved the report since it is an investigation by the Marine Corps’ investigation group. The next day, I instructed to hold off on handing over the case to the police, as I believe that that the opinions raised in the report needed to be re-examined.”

He added, “That instruction was clearly given through the commander and deputy commander of the Marine Corps, and I confirmed that the commander of the Marine Corps directly ordered the Marine Corps’ top investigator to hold off on handing over the case.” He emphasized, “I did not make any request to exclude or include specific people, and the commander of the Marine Corps clearly gave my instructions to the top investigator to hold off on the transfer of the case.”

Minister Lee also presented the results of the re-examination by the Defense Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Command. He stated, “The decision of the Marine Corps’ investigation group to include a total of eight people on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death was deemed excessive. I believed that the charges against the two individuals who violated the brigade commander’s guidelines are valid. However, the criminal allegations against the four officers–who were either in the chain of command or assigned as field control officer–could not be clearly determined based solely on the current records.”

Minister Lee added, “The two individuals who carried out an operation alongside the late Cpl. Chae–though they were not on the same team as him–were mistakenly labeled as criminal suspects deposit not being responsible for field control.”

He said, “I expect the police to thoroughly investigate the case. The behavior of the ex-Marine Corps’ top investigator represents a grave violation of military discipline and weakens the command authority of the military and deteriorates discipline, and the insubordination will be dealt with in a due judicial process.

He added, “This incident occurred while the military was performing an operation to provide emergency support for recovery from national disaster, and although mistakes should be strictly punished, it is the duty of a minister to prevent innocent people from being prosecuted.”

Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Command announced the results of re-examination of the case on the same day.

The Command found that “It is a safety-related accident where a soldier drowned after being swept away by a torrent in a stream while on a mission to search for victims of downpours, without wearing safety equipment due to erroneous instructions from the chain of command while risk assessment was not conducted for the operation area before the search operation.”

The Command explained that the results of its review of the case are based on the case records it received from the Marine Corps’ investigation group, focusing on an analysis of the cause of death, the necessity for supplementary investigation of the case, and propriety in selecting criminal suspects who caused the death.

The Command added, “We accept the charges against the two suspects who clearly ordered soldiers to go into water up to their waist, which violated the guidelines of the brigade commander that soldiers are allowed to enter water only up to the height of their boots. Issues with the other four individuals who were in the chain of command related to the search operation or were assigned duties as field control officers were identified, but it is rather difficult to specify criminal charges against them based only on current records.”

It added, “We confirmed that two officers joined the team searching for the deceased marine, although they were not assigned to that team, and it is difficult to decide that they had authority and responsibility as field control officers.”

The Criminal Investigation Command will prepare a notice of recognition for the two individuals to be criminal suspects and transfer it to the police. As for the other four individuals whose issues were identified, the Command will send all records received from the Marine Corps investigation group, along with a list of respective factual grounds, to the police.

By Hyun-woo, Seo <lgiant61@dema.mi.kr>

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