Chaesangbyeong's Battalion Commander Visits Yecheon Accident Site... Offers Flowers Saying "I'm Sorry"

Lieutenant Colonel Im faces charges of involuntary manslaughter
"Discrimination and ostracism after Corporal Chae's death" Human Rights Commission complaint

On the 14th, Lieutenant Colonel Lee, the on-site commander at the time of Corporal Chae's death in the line of duty during the search for flood victims last year, visited the accident site in Yecheon-gun, Gyeongbuk.

Lieutenant Colonel Lee, dressed in combat uniform around noon that day, visited Naeseongcheon in Yecheon-gun, Gyeongbuk, and offered chrysanthemums near Bomun Bridge to honor Corporal Chae. Corporal Chae had entered Naeseongcheon last July under orders to search for missing persons during heavy rain but was swept away by the rapid current and died in the line of duty. The day before, on the 13th, Lieutenant Colonel Lee also visited Corporal Chae’s grave at Daejeon National Cemetery and shed tears while saying, "I am sorry."

On the afternoon of the 13th, Lieutenant Colonel Lee, the former battalion commander of the 7th Artillery Battalion, 1st Marine Division, to which Corporal Chae, who died in the line of duty while searching for flood victims in Yecheon, Gyeongbuk last year, belonged, visited the grave site of Corporal Chae at the National Daejeon National Cemetery to pay respects.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

At that time, Lieutenant Colonel Lee was the battalion commander of the battalion to which Corporal Chae belonged. The Ministry of National Defense investigation headquarters, after reviewing the investigation results of Corporal Chae’s death, identified Lieutenant Colonel Lee as responsible for ordering the underwater search and named him a suspect for professional negligence resulting in death.

Lieutenant Colonel Lee filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission on the 13th, stating that he had been continuously discriminated against and ostracized by former 1st Division Commander Im Seong-geun and the Marine Corps Headquarters after Corporal Chae’s death. His side claimed that after the death incident, Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan and former 1st Division Commander Im Seong-geun dispatched him to another unit, cutting off contact with members of the 7th Artillery Battalion, and prevented him from attending official Marine Corps meetings, and they also applied for urgent relief measures to stop the discrimination.

Unable to endure isolation within the Marine Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Lee revealed on the 29th of last month that he was receiving inpatient treatment at a psychiatric hospital and was discharged on this day. Regarding this, former Division Commander Im Seong-geun stated, "The unit to which Lieutenant Colonel Lee was dispatched is directly under the headquarters, and the division commander cannot send personnel there just because he wants to," expressing that he was not involved in Lieutenant Colonel Lee’s dispatch.

Lieutenant Colonel Lee was dismissed from his battalion commander position in December last year after Corporal Chae’s death and is currently under investigation by the Gyeongbuk Police Agency on charges of professional negligence resulting in death. He claims that former Division Commander Im forced the underwater search during last year’s heavy rain damage recovery, leading to a conflict with Im, who denies ordering the underwater search. In the urgent relief petition, Lieutenant Colonel Lee named former Division Commander Im as "the person who primarily caused Corporal Chae’s death by ordering an unreasonable search."

Meanwhile, on the 12th, Corporal Chae’s mother sent a letter to the Marine Corps Headquarters appealing for the investigation to be concluded before her son’s first death anniversary next month. In the letter, she wrote, "I ask for your help so that the cause and truth will surely be revealed, the dispute over my son’s sacrifice will be resolved, and thereafter we can spend the rest of our lives only commemorating our child."