Human Rights Commission "The sergeant who took his life was verbally abused and assaulted... Negligence in unit management must be diagnosed."

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Yang Soo-yeon = The National Human Rights Commission recommended the Air Force Chief of Staff to establish a diagnosis system for negligent unit management, saying that the investigation into the suicide case of an Air Force sergeant showed verbal abuse and assault by a senior sergeant.

According to the Human Rights Commission on the 14th, Mr. A's father filed a complaint to the Human Rights Commission in February regarding the incident in which Mr. A (27), who served as a sergeant in the 51st Squadron of the Air Force, committed suicide.

Mr. A's father demanded an investigation into the truth, saying, "Even though the death was caused by assault, verbal abuse, and personal instructions from a senior non-commissioned officer, the failure to conduct a detailed diagnosis of negligent unit management at the higher unit level was intended to minimize and conceal the incident."

The Air Force announced that it had indicted Sergeant B, the harasser, on charges of assaulting a soldier while performing his duties, and responded that a diagnosis of negligent unit management was not conducted due to a lack of evidence.

As a result of the Human Rights Commission's investigation, it was confirmed that Sergeant B verbally abused Mr. A and other unit members with strong profanity, and assaulted them with his fists on the shoulders and chest while inside the unit.

Additionally, in the Air Force Military Police investigation report, it was stated that there was a lack of unit management that failed to recognize or intervene in time to prevent Mr. B's assault and verbal abuse at the unit level, and that a related diagnosis would be requested.

However, the report omitted the fact that the unit diagnosis was not actually carried out after receiving a response from the unit's inspection and safety office that it was difficult to diagnose the unit.

The Human Rights Commission's Military Human Rights Protection Committee observed that military deaths should, in principle, be investigated on the premise of state responsibility, given that they occur in a special space called the military, where the state fully controls the lives and actions of individuals.

If this is not done, there is a high possibility that a frame that reduces the cause of death to individual choice or negligence will be activated, and there is a risk of repeating structural problems such as narrowing the scope of the investigation, early termination, and exemption from command responsibility.

Accordingly, the Human Rights Commission judged that it was necessary to establish a related work system to ensure that matters related to structural command responsibility were not omitted, as the Military Police and the Inspection and Security Office regarded negligent unit management as items that were implemented based on lack of evidence or at the discretion of the commander.

The Human Rights Commission recommended that the Air Force Chief of Staff establish a diagnosis system for negligent unit management when barracks conflicts, such as assaults on the compound, are confirmed as a result of the investigation of military fatalities.

The head of the Air Force Investigation Team was asked to provide on-the-job training on what to keep in mind when writing a death incident investigation report.