"Recruit Death, Army Has Nothing to Say Even with Ten Mouths Open"

Amid growing distrust toward the military authorities following the death of a trainee soldier, Go Seong-gyun, former commander of the Army Training Center (66 years old, Korea Military Academy Class of 38), posted a video titled "A Former Army Training Center Commander’s View on the Trainee Soldier’s Death" on his YouTube channel on the 31st of last month, expressing his candid opinion that "the Army has nothing to say, even if it had ten mouths."

Goseonggyun, Former Commander of the Army Training Center

Go pointed out that this incident occurred due to "regulation violations" and a "complacent attitude," regardless of the commander’s gender. He stated, "Just as a regular company has its internal rules, the Army has its regulations, but the company commander did not follow them," emphasizing that this incident is entirely the Army’s fault with no room for excuses.

Go further questioned whether the noisy behavior at night warranted a military discipline training with full combat gear, explaining, "While full combat gear is allowed during military discipline training, regulations prohibit running or jogging."

He also expressed surprise that the practice of 'first-come, first-served,' a cultural remnant from the Japanese military during the colonial period that has long disappeared from the military, was still being conducted. He lamented, "What’s unfortunate is that the trainee had only been in training for nine days," and added, "In a state of no physical conditioning, the trainee underwent military discipline training, and even though fellow soldiers reported to the company commander that the trainee’s physical condition was poor, the commander neither checked nor stopped the training, which raises serious doubts about the competence of the officer."

He continued, "The training center is a place to make soldiers, and the unit is an organization to fight and win against the enemy, but before being soldiers, officers must treat the troops as human beings," and said, "I believe this incident is the result of thinking of soldiers merely as parts of a large organizational machine without such consideration."

Regarding the public opinion that the incident occurred because the company commander was female, Go emphasized, "The core issue is that the commander, regardless of being a woman or a man, ignored the prescribed military discipline guidelines and arbitrarily forced excessive training." He warned against attempts to resolve the issue as a gender problem, saying, "Trying to solve a regulation violation by framing it as a gender issue endangers our military." On perspectives that criticize the trainee’s mental attitude, he said, "It is very wrong to judge today’s trainees and soldiers by past standards."

He concluded, "Efforts must be made to improve the leadership of officers, and units must be operated so that command is conducted according to Army regulations and higher laws, not personal opinions, to prevent incidents like this from happening."

Go, originally from Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, served as the cadet commander at the Korea Military Academy, commander of the 31st Division, chief of staff of the 2nd Operations Command, and commander of the Army Training Center. After retiring as the head of the Army Education Command’s Training Department, he worked as a professor in the Department of Security Studies at Sookmyung Women’s University.