MBC's Third Union "Political Use of the Death of Soldier Chae" vs Colonel Park "Have you seen the investigation records?"

MBC's third labor union criticized Colonel Park Jung-hoon (former head of the Marine Corps Investigation Team), who investigated the death of Corporal Chae in the Marine Corps on the 17th, saying, "The unfortunate death of Corporal Chae is being used politically." On the other hand, Colonel Park's legal representative, Kim Jung-min, countered, "The part that the 3rd union is taking issue with is only part of Lim's negligence," adding, "It is nonsense in itself for the third union, which has not even seen the investigation record, to conclude that the investigation of the Marine Corps' investigation team is wrong."

In an explanation, the third union said, "If you look at Colonel Park and MBC News' reports, it seems as if the entire Marine Corps stepped forward and killed the corporal. Lim Sung-geun, division commander of the Marine Corps, is criticized as a person who took the life of his subordinate soldiers lightly because he is blind to the promotion of the unit."

In the meantime, the third union said, "It seems that Colonel Park's logic that Lim should be punished for delivering "it is a missing person search task" to the search unit on the day of dispatch and that he should be punished for "not mentioning life vests or ropes separately" seems to be far-fetched," adding, "For punishment to be done by negligence, a significant causal relationship between the violation of duty of care and death must be established. It is a very difficult part to prove legally that only the omission of not instructing the protective gear leads to a causal relationship of death."

At the same time, the third union questioned, "If the brigade commander instructed us to obtain only the depth of the boots, but the battalion commander instructed us to obtain them at the depth of the waist, is it right to take responsibility for the division commander?" and "Although Lim can be held responsible for the death of corporal Chae and be disciplined in the military, I'm not sure if he should be subject to criminal punishment for professional negligence resulting in death."

The third union also said, "It was possible to fully consider indicting only the battalion commanders who gave direct instructions to obtain the case. Even though he knew that under the revised Military Court Act, the investigation authority should be transferred to the police, he continued the investigation in respect of the past year's practice," adding, "We should have prepared documents containing all eight suspects and allegations and established them with the police. This is a direct violation of the revised Military Court Act."

In addition, the third union said, "The internal investigation report prepared by Colonel Park should be prepared according to the military's will under the command system under the Minister of National Defense, but it cannot be an external pressure for the minister to revise the contents. The internal investigation report was made according to the legitimate will of the military," and added, "Is there a law or army rule that the internal investigation report is prepared by the military prosecution or the military and police, and the minister cannot revise it? Is it really an abuse of authority that the minister wants to write different opinions on judicial processing by listening to the opinion of the legal officer, rather than changing the contents of the report?"

In response to the third union's claim, lawyer Kim said, "The part that the third union is taking issue with is only part of Lim's negligence. You can see it only by looking at the report of the Ministry of National Defense's investigation headquarters, which came out on August 20, 2023," and countered, "The report does not cover all the negligence of Lim, but the abuse of authority of the division chief is mentioned."

At the same time, lawyer Kim said, "There were instructions to go down the bank and do a 'go-pan search', 'stab it if you need it', and 'wear chest boots'. At that time, the 7th Brigade Commander also has a statement that he ordered 'not to go down the bank' in principle," adding, "If you mention this, the head of the 1st Division is raising the issue, citing the leakage of investigation records. It is nonsense in itself for a third union, which has not even seen the investigation records, to conclude that the Marine Corps' investigation team is wrong."

At the same time, lawyer Kim said, "The enforcement decree of the Military Police Duty Act guarantees independence of the investigation. It is the military police's own authority to determine whether there is a causal relationship between negligence and death," adding, "Any external interference beyond the internal control of the military police is a violation of the enforcement decree of the Military Police Duty Act. It is Korea's legal system that naturally examines whether there is a causal relationship through the civilian police, prosecutors, and courts."

"Even if the jurisdiction of the crime that caused death was transferred to the private sector due to the revision of the Military Court Act, the military police still have the authority to investigate and recognize and transfer the cause of the crime," lawyer Kim said. "It is also clear that these activities are investigations and that the suspect and the suspect are specified when they are transferred."

Attorney Kim added, "The authority to determine whether there is a causal relationship between the negligence of the 1st Division commander and the death of Corporal Chae is basically granted to the military law police officer in charge, and the police, prosecutors, and courts who have been transferred are supposed to judge the request," adding, "The defense minister or the Marine Corps commander's remarks not only violate the independence of the military law police officer's investigation, but above all, the current defense minister has not offered any opinion on the substance of the case."

Date: 2024-03-19

Reporter: 서화목