Recently, there have been a lot of violent incidents in the military. Most of them are physical, mental, and sexual attacks by senior soldiers. These attacks are serious because they can cause soldiers to have depression and to die. Moreover, there have been some shooting incidents. These incidents shocked people. People have lost their trust in the military system because of these matters. They want the Ministry of National Defense to examine this violence and to punish the perpetrators.

Among many violent incidents, the death of Private Yoon is the most severe one. Private Yoon was a medic who was serving in a division in Yeoncheon-gun. He died from beatings by his senior soldiers in April. They abused him physically and sexually. The army prosecution started to investigate the case. In May, it accused senior soldiers of hiding the fact that their habitual assaults lead to his death. However, the prosecution conducted the investigation poorly and did not investigate the many abuses before his death. Moreover, the prosecution and the military blocked a meeting between the family of Private Yoon and a witness of this incident. Therefore, the Military Human Rights Center accused the prosecution of not working honestly and wanting to hide this incident. Before the Human Rights Center accused them, there was no article or news about this incident. When people heard about this, the country was in shock. The trial still is taking place, but senior soldiers deny the accusations. .

Attacks by senior soldiers in the military are not a recent problem. Incidents have happened for a long time. However, they are not known because the investigation and punishment of incidents in the military are conducted by the army prosecution. In 2005, a private had not adjusted to his military unit. His seniors abused him verbally. He shot and killed his senior soldiers. This incident became a national issue. After this incident, the Ministry of National Defense took measures to improve the working environment for soldiers and to decrease abuse from seniors. Nevertheless, in 2011, there was another shooting incident in the navy because of bullying and beatings. It showed that the measures have not worked well.

In August, a conference was held to prevent assaults in the military. The committee comprised civilians, government officials, and army officers. They chose 40 measures to decrease abuse incidents. Moreover, they selected 4 to be enacted immediately. The first one is communication between soldiers, their parents, and their military units. If soldiers are able to express their difficulties, military leaders can solve the problems directly. According to this plan, soldiers can use cellular phones to talk with their parents. The second measure is permitting guests to visit soldiers who are serving in divisions near the border. The committee also allowed weekday visitors for soldiers in ordinary units. Third, soldiers are able to apply for their vacation. Before this, they could not choose their desired dates. Lastly, the committee felt that it is necessary to fix barracks, in which soldiers spend most of their time. People expect these plans to improve the closed atmosphere of the military and reduce incidents in the military. However, there is criticism that the measures are not sufficient. Critics also worry that these measures will not improve soldiers’ rights and solve the problems.

Although the committee chose 40 measures, some National Assembly members insist that the army should introduce the ombudsman system of Germany. With an ombudsman system, a National Assembly member is selected to solve problems in military divisions. The German government established a law to enact this system, and it solves problems with experts. Through this system, the ombudsman can solve incidents in the army more neutrally than the prosecution and the military police.

Now, the Korean military has lost the confidence of the Korean people because of continuous incidents and poor solutions. Abuse in the army causes Korean people to have anxiety that they may lose their family members during their service and the army is not able to protect them. The Korean military have to solve their problems and regain the trust of the Korean people.