[2022 National Audit] Excessive Delay in Handling Complaints by Military Prosecutors Regarding Complainants and Accusers

National Assembly Member Ahn Kyu-baek: "384 out of 506 Financial Applications Exceeded Deadline"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] It has been revealed that the reexamination application system, through which complainants seek a review of the military prosecution's decision not to indict, is being delayed. Unlike civilian cases, reexamination applications are virtually the only procedure to contest the military prosecution's non-indictment decisions. However, due to the guidelines being merely advisory, complaints from aggrieved complainants are excessively delayed in processing.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to Rep. Ahn Kyu-baek of the National Defense Committee of the Democratic Party on the 4th, out of 506 reexamination applications received by the military prosecution from 2019 to June this year, 384 cases were confirmed to have violated the deadlines stipulated in the Military Court Act.

The Military Court Act stipulates that when the commander of the military prosecutor's unit receiving the reexamination application deems the application groundless, they must forward the judgment result on the reexamination application to the Minister of National Defense or each branch's Chief of Staff within 7 days. In this case, the Minister of National Defense or each branch's Chief of Staff must reexamine the reexamination application and, if recognized as groundless, send the records to the High Military Court within 30 days.

However, since the processing deadline is only an advisory guideline without binding force, cases of delay have been frequent.

In the case of the late Private First Class Jo Jun-woo, who took his own life due to bullying in the military in July 2019, his bereaved family filed a complaint against the investigator in October of the following year, citing inadequate investigation. However, the military prosecution issued a non-indictment decision in August last year, 10 months later. In response, the bereaved family filed a reexamination application in September of the same year, but the military prosecution reportedly only forwarded the case to the High Military Court on the 12th of last month, well past the deadline.

In fact, the Army Chief of Staff processed only 5 out of 261 reexamination applications within the deadline, showing a delay rate of 98.08%. The delay rates for the Air Force Chief of Staff and the Navy Chief of Staff were also recorded at 62.5% and 67.16%, respectively. Regarding the longest delayed cases, the Army Ordinary Prosecutor's Office Chief took 684 days, and the Air Force Chief of Staff took 343 days to process the cases.

Rep. Ahn Kyu-baek stated, "The case burden per military prosecutor is only about 2.3% of that of a general prosecutor, so it is not excessive enough to delay the processing of reexamination cases," and added, "A comprehensive investigation into the military prosecution's work is necessary to determine whether other regulations, including reexamination applications, have also been excessively delayed."