First Korean Casualty from Iraq Reported

An officer of the Zaytun unit deployed to Iraq to promote peace in the town of Irbil was found shot dead yesterday.

The officer was the first casualty recorded by the Zaytun unit since it was deployed in 2004.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said yesterday that at around 6:45 p.m. on May 19, (1:45 p.m. local time) a first lieutenant of the Zaytun unit by the name of Oh (27, a graduate of the Third Military Academy) was found shot dead in a barber facility catering to the division.

When an administrative soldier of the medical corps found Oh, Oh was lying on his face with a bullet wound under his chin. The JCS noted that a K2 rifle, which Oh normally used, and a cartridge case were left at the scene.

Oh was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 2004, worked as an administrative officer in the medical corps for the unit’s Special Warfare Command (SWC) branch, and served as a medical commander after being dispatched as a member of the shift deployment of the Zaytun unit on April 26.

A JCS official said, “There were no signs of intrusion from outside or fighting on the spot,” and added that the unit is now investigating how the incident happened.

ysh1005@donga.com