In its ruling on Thursday, a three-judge panel at the Central District Military Court in Seoul cleared Colonel Park of insubordination and defaming senior military officers. He had denied the charges, saying they were filed in retaliation for his efforts to hold senior officers in the South Korean Marine Corps accountable for the death of Lance Cpl. Chae Su-geun in July 2023.
Lance Corporal Chae and other marines had been sent to search for missing residents in central Seoul after the town was hit by floods, but they were given no life jackets and ordered to wear knee-high rubber boots that impeded their movement as they waded through the fast-moving, waist-deep floodwaters. Lance Corporal Chae was swept away and later found dead.
Colonel Park, who led an investigation into the incident, concluded that eight superior officers, including Maj. Gen. Im Seong-geun, the commander of the 1st Marine Division, had been responsible for Lance Corporal Chae’s death through negligence.
He later accused the Defense Ministry of whitewashing his inquiry and absolving top military brass of responsibility. He blamed Mr. Yoon, who he said “flew into a rage” after being told that his report held senior commanders responsible for the death. Colonel Park cited the Marine’s top commander as his source for his knowledge of Mr. Yoon’s outburst, but the commander denied making such a statement.
Colonel Park said he resisted pressure from the Defense Ministry to expunge the names of senior officers like Major General Im as criminal suspects, and that he sent his files, as required by law, to the national police for further investigation. The Defense Ministry retracted the files and later sent the police a revised version, which named only two of the original eight suspects, both of whom were lower-ranking lieutenant colonels.
