First in History Since Establishment... Ministry of National Defense Appoints 'Special Military Prosecutor' to Investigate Air Force Sexual Harassment Case

Sergeant involved in the '2nd assault on Air Force female non-commissioned officer' attending the detention hearing
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] A special military prosecutor will be appointed on the 19th to investigate the case of an Air Force non-commissioned officer who died after being sexually harassed. This is the first time a special military prosecutor has been appointed since the founding of the armed forces.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 18th, Minister Seo Wook plans to appoint Colonel (Jin) Go Min-sook, head of the Navy Headquarters prosecution team, as the special military prosecutor. Although the special military prosecutor belongs to the Ministry of National Defense prosecution team, they can report directly to the Minister of National Defense without going through the head of the prosecution team if necessary.

Colonel Go is expected to be in charge of investigating the dereliction of duty by Jeon Ik-su, head of the Air Force Legal Office, the inadequate initial investigation, and the responsibility of the Air Force Legal Office. These are representative unresolved suspicions following the announcement of the interim investigation results.

The Ministry of National Defense prosecution team filed charges of dereliction of duty against former head Jeon on the 13th for inadequate investigation of the Air Force sexual violence victim's death case. They also requested an arrest warrant for A, an employee of the High Military Court suspected of leaking investigation information to former head Jeon.

However, since the ordinary military court dismissed the warrant, Colonel Go is expected to focus on proving A's charge of official secret leakage through supplementary investigations in the future.

The victim, Sergeant Lee, was sexually harassed by a senior non-commissioned officer on March 2, and after suffering secondary harm from colleagues and seniors, made an extreme choice on May 21.