When monsoon rains inundated a rural area in the heart of South Korea last July, South Korean marines were sent in to search for missing residents in waist-deep floodwaters without life jackets, life rings or safety tubes.
Five of them were swept away by the churning brown waters when the ground collapsed, while a corporal named Chae Su-geun disappeared downstream, shouting for help and later found dead.
Nearly a year later, the 20-year-old Marine's death has become a threat to South Korean leader President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment. It also raises the prospect of political instability in South Korea, a key U.S. ally in building a bulwark against terrorism. North Korea and China.
South Korea's military Tragic accidentBut this latest incident has turned into Yoon Yong-chul's first major political crisis since his party came to power. Failure The career military officer who led the investigation into Pfc Chae's death, whose body the government bought for 10 billion won during last month's parliamentary election, accused the Defense Ministry of whitewashing the investigation and absolving senior officers of responsibility — all under pressure from Yoon.
Mr Yoon has not directly responded to the allegation, and last week the president vetoed a bill pushed by the opposition in Congress that would have required a special prosecutor to investigate the allegation. The president wants government agencies such as the police and prosecutors to complete their investigations into the allegations before discussing other measures.
But the public generally supports the appointment of a special prosecutor. investigation South Koreans have less and less trust in Yoon and government prosecutors. Yoon's opponents say that despite the prosecution's initiation of Criminal Investigation His critics and reporter Accused of spreading “fake news” but not investigating corruption allegations against his wife, Kim Keun-heeequally eager. (This scandal and a series of other scandals led to Mr. Yin's performance was poor In last month's election.)
The opposition threatened to launch impeachment proceedings if Yoon continued to reject their demands.
“The Yoon Young-chul regime should not forget the lessons of history,” said liberal opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, referring to former presidents who have been jailed or impeached for corruption and abuse of power.
The opposition, which holds a larger majority in the new parliament that took office on Thursday, plans to pass another special prosecutor bill, but it remains to be seen whether it has enough votes to override the president's veto or whether there is enough public support and solid evidence to initiate impeachment proceedings against Yoon.
Days after his death, a South Korean Marine Corps investigation concluded that Corporal Choi and his fellow Marines were not equipped with life jackets or safety tubes. The knee-high rubber boots they wore hampered their mobility in the water. The military has acknowledged safety lapses.
The investigation also found that eight superiors, including Maj. Gen. Im Seong-geun, commander of the 1st Marine Division, were negligent in causing Choi's death. Then-Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop approved turning over the findings to the national police for further investigation, as required by law. He also approved plans by investigators to brief the news media.
“But within 24 hours, all the decisions were overturned and everything became a mess,” said Col. Park Jung-hoon, the lead investigator.
Mr. Lee ordered Colonel Park to cancel a press conference scheduled for the next day. The Ministry of National Defense withdrew the document Colonel Park sent to the police. Later, the Ministry of National Defense sent the police a revised version of the document that listed only two of the original eight officers, both lieutenant colonels, as involved in Corporal Choi's death.
Colonel Park said the top Marine commander told him that Mr. Yoon “flew up in anger” after learning of the colonel’s findings and called Mr. Lee to express his anger. (The commander denied making such comments.) Colonel Park said that after the president’s response, the Defense Department pressured him to remove the names of senior officers, including Maj. Gen. Im, from the report as suspects.
Yoon has not yet responded directly to the allegation, and his office has declined to comment pending investigations by the police and the Office of Investigation of Corruption of Senior Officials in Government Agencies. Lee has denied being pressured by Yoon's office. Analysts are also struggling to explain why Yoon took such action.
But Colonel Park stands by his allegations. The Defense Ministry has taken him to a military court for insubordination. Officials say he ignored orders to delay handing over investigation documents to police. Colonel Park says the documents were already on their way to police when he received the order. He says he was persecuted for resisting pressure to remove the names of senior officers from the report.
Yoo Jae-eun, assistant defense minister, was called to testify at Colonel Park's court-martial this month. She said that when she called Colonel Park at Lee's instruction, she advised him not to mention any suspects or any suspected crimes in his report. She insisted that the advice was not undue pressure but “one of the options” that Colonel Park could consider.
Another Marine swept away by floodwaters and retired be accused Maj. Gen. Lin is being sued for professional negligence. He claims his troops were ordered into dangerous waters to please the general, who he says was guided by his obsession with publicity in his troops' disaster relief activities. Maj. Gen. Lin calls the lawsuit “defamatory.”
Yoon expressed condolences for Corporal Chae's sacrifice and criticized the Marines' actions in the flood, but he remained silent on the allegations of illegal pressure. But South Koreans often find Yoon's decisions “mysterious,” said Lee Jin-young, a commentator for the conservative daily Dong-A Ilbo. Her columnShe said his staff lacked the courage to stand up to his “anger” and speak out when Yoon made “impulsive” decisions.
“Instead, they point the finger at the wrong target when the president hits the wrong target,” Ms. Lee wrote. “When this happens again and again, scandals erupt and his approval ratings plummet.”
