A soldier in South Korea’s reserves yesterday went on a shooting spree, killing a fellow soldier and injuring three comrades before shooting himself dead, a military official said.
The incident is likely to spur questions over the nation’s rules on compulsory military service at a time when its military faces criticism of lax discipline in some units, leading to attacks on soldiers by colleagues suffering from psychological problems.
The military official said the reservist turned his K-2 assault rifle on fellow soldiers during mandatory training at a reserve forces site in the capital, Seoul.
Photo: EPA
He was 24 years old, South Korean television network YTN said.
“The army is investigating the incident,” said the military official, who declined to be identified because the topic is sensitive.
South Korea has a system of two years of compulsory military service for all able-bodied men, since it is still technically at war with North Korea after the 1950-1953 war between the neighbors ended in a truce and not a peace treaty.
They must then participate in annual military training as reservists for eight years.
South Korea’s military has about 630,000 soldiers on active duty, more than 300,000 of them conscripts, aimed at deterring aggression from North Korea, one of the world’s most militarized states.
However, the nation’s declining birth rate and small families have prompted concerns its armed forces have become too slow to deal with social changes.
Rights group Amnesty International yesterday urged South Korea to end the imprisonment of hundreds of young men who object to military service on grounds of conscience.
The most recent outcry concerned continuing physical and emotional abuse that led to the death of a conscript at the hands of his barrack mates last year.
Last year, a conscript soldier threw a grenade and shot dead five comrades near the North Korean border.
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