A South Korean marine colonel who confronted insubordination and defamation prices after accusing President Yoon Suk Yeol of whitewashing his investigation right into a marine’s loss of life was acquitted by a court-martial on Thursday.
A public uproar over the case of the colonel, Park Jung-hun, rocked South Korea for months final 12 months, prompting opposition lawmakers to place ahead a invoice to nominate a particular prosecutor to research his allegations. The political confrontation intensified as Mr. Yoon vetoed the invoice thrice and the opposition threatened to question him.
Mr. Yoon ultimately was impeached by the opposition-dominated Nationwide Meeting, however for an additional motive: his six-hour imposition of martial regulation final month, throughout which he was accused of sending troops into the Meeting, which he mentioned had tried to paralyze his authorities. He was additionally accused of ordering the arrests of his political enemies.
Months earlier than that, the opposition had cited the prosecution of Colonel Park as an instance of how Mr. Yoon’s authorities abused its authority to silence dissenting voices.
In its ruling on Thursday, a three-judge panel on the Central District Navy Court docket in Seoul cleared Colonel Park of insubordination and defaming senior navy officers. He had denied the costs, saying they have been filed in retaliation for his efforts to carry senior officers within the South Korean Marine Corps accountable for the loss of life of Lance Cpl. Chae Su-geun in July 2023.
Lance Corporal Chae and different marines had been despatched to seek for lacking residents in central South Korea after the city was hit by floods, however they got no life jackets and ordered to put on knee-high rubber boots that impeded their motion as they waded via the fast-moving, waist-deep floodwaters. Lance Corporal Chae was swept away and later discovered lifeless.
Colonel Park, who led an investigation into the incident, concluded that eight superior officers, together with Maj. Gen. Im Seong-geun, the commander of the first Marine Division, had been accountable for Lance Corporal Chae’s loss of life via negligence.
He later accused the Protection Ministry of whitewashing his inquiry and absolving high navy brass of accountability. He blamed Mr. Yoon, who he mentioned “flew right into a rage” after being informed that his report held senior commanders accountable for the loss of life. Colonel Park cited the marines’ high commander as his supply for his data of Mr. Yoon’s outburst, however the commander denied making such an announcement.
Colonel Park mentioned he resisted strain from the Protection Ministry to expunge the names of senior officers like Main Normal Im as legal suspects, and that he despatched his recordsdata, as required by regulation, to the nationwide police for additional investigation. The Protection Ministry retracted the recordsdata and later despatched the police a revised model, which named solely two of the unique eight suspects, each of whom have been lower-ranking lieutenant colonels.
Mr. Yoon has not addressed Colonel Park’s allegation towards him and has not been charged within the case. However Colonel Park was indicted on prices of defaming his superiors and disobeying an order to postpone sending his recordsdata to the police.
In its ruling on Thursday, the navy court docket panel mentioned the insubordination cost couldn’t stand as a result of the Marines’ management had no proper to delay sending Colonel Park’s findings to the police. It additionally mentioned there was not sufficient proof that the colonel had meant to defame his superiors.
The opposition’s efforts to launch a parliamentary investigation into Mr. Yoon’s function in Colonel Park’s case have been sidetracked by the political turmoil brought on by his impeachment.
“There’s a lengthy technique to go to seek out out the reality concerning the loss of life of Lance Corporal Chae,” Colonel Park mentioned at a information convention after the ruling on Thursday.