Report of Officers' 'Drinking Party' During Training
Previously, Exposed for Poor Meal Quality Controversy
The Facebook community related to the Army, 'Delivering Army Training Center News on Behalf' (Yukdaejeon), is gaining attention as a reporting channel for military officers and soldiers. It has exposed some officers drinking during training and has played an important role in improving soldiers' meals and treatment in the past.
On the 14th, Yukdaejeon received a report about some officers drinking during the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise 'Freedom Shield (FS)' on the previous day (13th). The controversy arose at the auditorium inside the Air Force 10th Fighter Wing (10 Jeonbi) located in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.
Photo of an officer drinking party posted on 'Delivered Instead of Army Training Center' (Yukdaejeon). [Image source=Facebook Yukdaejeon]
An anonymous soldier who posted the report pointed out, "While many warriors remained in the auditorium, the officers drank without concern, shouted obscenities loudly, and even played drinking games."
He added, "This is exactly the collapse of training discipline and military order. It is a disgrace to the military and personnel undermining discipline," and said, "When the warriors saw these personnel leaving the auditorium, I felt ashamed and embarrassed as an officer and could not hold my head up."
After the report surfaced, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) stated, "Upon recognizing the matter, we immediately excluded the involved personnel and are conducting an inspection investigation. Once the investigation is complete, we will handle it according to relevant regulations and will strive to establish stronger training discipline in the future." The Army also emphasized, "Once we receive the related information from the JCS, we will conduct a thorough investigation and strictly handle the matter according to laws and regulations to establish military discipline."
Photo of poor-quality school meals controversy reported to 'Yukdaejeon' in July last year [Image source=Yukdaejeon]
Yukdaejeon has long been recognized as a channel for reporting and exposing various incidents occurring within military units. Due to the hierarchical nature of military organizational culture where obedience is essential, 'whistleblowing' is inherently difficult, but online communities leveraging anonymity allow relatively smooth reporting. In particular, it has played an important role in improving soldiers' meals and treatment in the past.
For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the treatment of isolated soldiers was publicized on Yukdaejeon. In July last year, A, the older brother of a soldier, posted photos of the meals his younger brother received while quarantined after testing positive on Yukdaejeon, drawing public attention. The soldier reportedly endured five days of substandard meals during unit isolation.
A said, "I was speechless when I saw a large side dish container with just a tiny amount of ketchup and a small compartment that should have held ketchup containing a fried meat patty (donggeurangttaeng). I wrote this post because such poor meals could be served to the reader's own siblings or children." The post quickly spread through social networking services (SNS), and the unit involved eventually acknowledged the provision of substandard meals and promised to prevent recurrence.
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