Recently, it has been identified that the suspects involved in the death of a soldier who died during military training in a unit in Inje, Gangwon Province, known as the ‘Eolcharyeo’ ordeal, have been narrowed down to two individuals including a major. Gangwon Provincial Police revealed that they received the incident record of the soldier’s death from the military today (28th).
The suspects have been identified as the major and the sub-major who ordered the soldier to perform the Eolcharyeo at the time of the soldier’s death. The military has assessed that there is negligence resulting in death on the part of these officers.
It has been reported that on the 23rd, the soldier was instructed to walk or run 1.5 km in full military gear, including doing push-ups, during the Eolcharyeo process. Ordering a soldier to march with full gear, move more than 1 km at a time, and do push-ups in full gear all violate army regulations.
Initially, the army only stated that it was in the “initial stages of the investigation,” but after specific reports on the Eolcharyeo process came out, they stated that they would identify the suspects and charges and refer the case to civilian police.
On the 23rd, around 5:20 p.m., during Eolcharyeo at a unit in Inje, Gangwon Province, one soldier collapsed among the 6 soldiers receiving the ordeal. The soldier was transferred to a civilian hospital for treatment but passed away two days later due to worsened condition.
The soldiers were determined to have undergone military training the next day due to making noise during bedtime.
According to the Military Human Rights Center, they received a tip that the deceased soldier had a body temperature of over 40 degrees and was breathing more than twice as fast as usual during transport. The soldier died from septic shock at the civilian hospital, and it appears there were issues with the medical judgment during the transfer process.
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