Unconfirmed Charges Documented against Competitors for Promotion of Pre-selected Officers

It was revealed on December 10 that the chiefs of staff for Personnel (CSP) of the Korean Army Headquarters have submitted separate documents regarding unconfirmed suspicions of misdeeds of other candidates to the promotion selection committee for the 50 pre-selected captains during the evaluation period for promotion to the brigadier general in October.

According to the investigation team of the Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant Colonel Cha and other members of the promotion management department at the personnel office submitted documents that included charges of misdeeds of 15 to 20 captains to the evaluation committee during the evaluation period from October 5 to October 9, so that the committee will not be able to choose anyone other than the pre-selected 50 captains.

Particularly, Lieutenant Colonel Cha and others had the documents manipulated as if the personnel verification committee confirmed those charges, without actually turning them in at the evaluation held on September 23 to investigate into any suspected misdeeds.

“When the selection committee was looking to choose someone other than the pre-selected few, suspicion charges were made regarding that specific person so that the promotion would only be given to the pre-selected officers,” said an official at the military investigation team. He added, “The structure was set up to make it difficult for the members of the selection committee to be fair even if they had tried.”

The military investigation team added these facts to the arrest warrant (for the interference with official duties by fraudulent deed and the manipulation of official documents) of Lieutenant Colonels Cha and Ju of the promotion management department, who were arrested on December 8 and 9.

Lieutenant Colonel Cha, who composed the candidate list that completely coincides with the actual 50 officers promoted prior to the promotion evaluation, confessed to the judge at the warrant screening session held on December 8, “The list was composed on General A’s orders.”

Following the lead, the military prosecution called in General A for questioning on December 8. If the accusation of General A’s order is confirmed to be true, it will expand the scope of suspicion over the possibility of interventions from the chief executives of the army.

Meanwhile, the Vice Minister of Defense Yu Hyo-il is causing conflict with the investigation team by delaying the approval of the arrest warrant filed on December 7 for Captain J of the army headquarters. The prosecution can only file for the warrant at the military court after getting approval from the vice minister of the Ministry of Defense.

Vice Minister Yu said, “The data needs to be supplemented for judiciary procedures,” but the prosecution refuted the vice minister, saying, “It is only natural that Captain J be arrested since he is the one who gave orders to the two colonels to manipulate those documents.”

Ho-Won Choi bestiger@donga.com