Military to “Investigate T.I.E. and Shilmido Cases”

The Defense Ministry announced its plan on January 7 to launch a military investigative committee into past injustices to start fact-finding works regarding the past government’s move to draft activist students compulsorily and give them special troop information and education, or T.I.E., and the Shilmido case.

Its planning and coordination officer, Kim Hong-shik, told reporters, “Our ministry has designated the two cases as the subject of military investigation into past events and will launch a fact-finding committee on past events joined in by civil experts including

civil groups.”

He added, “Three other cases—death of soldiers in the military, operation of mobile forces before and after the Korean War, and civilians who fell victim to the war—which have been continuously appealed may be included as our investigation subjects according to the decision of the committee.”

Yet, the ministry intends to exclude seven other cases regarding the former educational organization in the military for the clean-up of society, slaughter of innocent Geochang residents, strife in Jeju on April 3, 1948, Nogunri, and defoliant victims in the process of compensation or fact-finding at the governmental level from the list of investigation subjects.

Meanwhile, the ministry estimates that, in terms of suicide cases in the military, a total of 332 petitions were filed until late November last year, rejecting judgments that they committed suicide. Out of 254 cases that were re-investigated, 196 cases were judged as suicide and 51 others as death on duty.

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com