Army’s Covering-Up of Drunken Officer’s Killing of Solder for 18 Years

It finally transpired after 18 months of covering up. One conscripted solder who was a college student until the enlistment was shot to death by a drunken officer. But the Army commanders campaigned an organized cover-up and made his death end up as a suicide case.

Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths (PTC) (Commissioner Han Sang-bum) pronounced on August 20 that Private First Class Huh Won Kun (Then 21, photo) was killed, which directly disputes the Army’s conclusion that Huh committed a suicide. The case happened in April 2, 1984, within the Army’s 3rd Regiment’s 3rd Company of 7th Division.

According to the PTC, on the killing scene, 10 more people including officers and solders were on hand. The commanders of the Battalion discussed the matter and decided to cover it up as a suicide case. Then they washed up the crime scene and shot two more rounds to Huh’s body.

▽Outlines and covering up = The PTC has found that on April 2, 1984, the Company in question threw a party celebrating the promotion of one of its officers. But an argument developed among the officers. One drunken noncommissioned officer who assisted the officers came back to his barrack with his M16 and made a scene. In the process, he accidentally pulled the trigger and fired one shot into the right chest of Huh. And Huh died on the spot.

This accident was reported to the Battalion in charge some time between 4-6 a.m., and relayed to the Regiment immediately. One officer dispatched from the Battalion arrived at the scene and discussed the accident with the head of the Company and other officers. Then they decided to cover it up. Then, they washed up the barrack at issue and moved Hus’s body at around 10-11 a.m. to a nearby building storing used oils. There they fired two more shots: one to Huh’s head and the other into his chest.

After that, the Company’s officers reported the case to the military police, alleging, “Upon hearing a gunfire, we rushed to the storage building. There, we found Huh shot himself to death.”

The military police of Army’s 7th Division concluded the case on April 30, 1984. They concluded that Huh committed a suicide to “escape” the harsh treatments by Huh’s Company’s head.

The Company’s head was arrested and indicted for the harsh treatments. Later he was forcefully discharged from the Army. But the noncommissioned officer who really killed Huh was not penalized at all.

▽ Second investigation ended up suicide conclusion = The military police of the 2nd Army Crops and the Army’s own military police command conducted their own investigation in 1984. But they also concluded that it was a suicide.

Later in 1999, a claim was filed with authorities and Ministry of Defense embarked on a probe into this case. With the implementation of The Special Act of Truth on Suspicious Deaths, the investigation was passed onto the PTC.

About 10 solders testified before the PTC, “We saw Huh shot to death. But the commanding officers ordered us to keep silence.”

The PTC announced, “We have found out that officers of the Battalion had engaged in the cover-up. But it is not clear whether the Regiment’s officers participated in it.”

Huh volunteered to join army in 1983 when he was a junior at Busan Marine University (now, Bookyung University). His father Huh Young-choon now chairs a committee in charge of suspicious deaths within National Democratic Association of Lost Families.

In the meanwhile, the killer of Huh reportedly stated before the PTC, “I remember making a scene under the influence of alcohol. But I do not remember killing Huh.”

Hyo-Lim Son aryssong@donga.com