Discipline First

It is remarkable that the court has continuously made a judgement that the soldiers who killed themselves because of rebuke, violent language, and assault from military leaders and senior officers "cannot be admitted as a man of merit."

The reason of judgement is that "settlement of military discipline is more important than prevention of severe punishment for maintaining military structure."

The decision is timely. The Defense Ministry put “comprehensive countermeasures for accident prevention” in force last August, but it became a target of criticism for ignoring the matter of military discipline. The judgement at this point is natural to be noteworthy.

The father of Mr. Chung, a soldier who killed himself because of his senior officers` severe punishment and fatigue from lack of sleep, raised a suit against the decision that his son cannot be a man of merit, but he lost the suit.

The court said in a written judgement, "A certain degree of morale training and punishment are indispensable to maintain military structure. If the punishment had not been a continuous one or too severe, he should have borne it and asked high-ranking officials to reform it."

The court also said, "It is true that the assault and violent language are against the law, and his unit controlled new recruits wrongfully. However, it was not as much as driving him to suicide. His suicide was caused by misjudgment and a lack of will to overcome the situation."

Before this judgement, two other fathers` same appeals for their sons were turned down. Both soldiers had suffered by insult and violent language or punishment.

The military shows affirmative reaction about the decision. They say it is the result of considering the importance of military discipline.

An officer from the Defense Ministry said, "We are sorry for the suicide and the remaining family members, but it would be impossible for anyone to admit the soldier, who could not overcome a barrack lifestyle and killed himself, as a man of merit."

According to “comprehensive countermeasures for accident prevention” settled by the Defense Ministry last August, if it is disclosed that military personnel used abusive language, disciplinary punishment to a successor, he will be sent to jail or will be given a disciplinary measure. After issuing the countermeasures, military related people worried about leadership problem caused by slackened discipline.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of complainant said, "I cannot understand the decision. It was an absolute invasion of constitutional rights and the military also has newly settled strong countermeasures against severe punishment on a private. I will enter an appeal against this decision."

Soo-Kyung Kim Sang-Ho Yun skkim@donga.com ysh1005@donga.com