"Harsh Drill Punishments to Trainees, Signs of Septic Shock... No to Patriot Pay"

"Patriotic Pay Cannot Sustain the Duty of National Defense"

Regarding the incident in which an army recruit collapsed during military discipline training and died two days later, Lim Tae-hoon, director of the Military Human Rights Center, criticized, "To maintain combat readiness, the state must protect the human rights of soldiers as much as they dedicate themselves to the military," adding, "The national defense duty can no longer be sustained with patriotic pay." Patriotic pay is a newly coined term referring to the exploitation of labor by giving soldiers unreasonably low wages or poor treatment based on patriotism.

On the 28th, Lim said on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "Military discipline training is not torture or harsh treatment but a kind of awakening effect to enforce discipline," and pointed out, "Administering physical punishment at the level of harsh treatment indicates an uncontrolled command system." He added, "The recruit collapsed on the 9th day after enlistment," and questioned, "What did he do so wrong to deserve such punishment when he was still struggling to adapt?"

On the 27th, a military police vehicle is entering and exiting a guard post at a certain unit in Inje-gun, Gangwon Province. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Military Human Rights Center, the cause of death of the recruit was septic shock. Lim claimed, "When he was transported to the hospital conscious, his fever had risen to 40.5 degrees Celsius, suspected to be heatstroke," and explained, "Typically, when suffering from a high fever, recovery should occur after adequate hydration and rest, but in this case, it did not, progressing to sepsis, requiring kidney dialysis, and ultimately leading to death."

He continued, "Even after 2 to 3 hours of treatment at Sokcho Medical Center, the fever did not subside, so he was transferred to Gangneung Asan Hospital, where his fever was still 40 degrees," and explained, "At this point, muscle breakdown begins, necessitating kidney dialysis, but since that was ineffective, septic shock led to death."

The previous day, the army announced that irregularities inconsistent with regulations were detected regarding the situation in which the recruit was undergoing military discipline training. They stated that specific details would be confirmed through an investigation with civilian police.

In response, Lim said, "The military calls it an investigation, not an inquiry, but this is just wordplay," and claimed, "It is a cover-up process to tone down the incident." He raised suspicions, saying, "When the Chae Sang-byeong incident occurred, the military also said it was not an investigation," and added, "The Ministry of National Defense seems to be anxious that this issue might affect the passage of the Chae Sang-byeong Special Investigation Act today."