The case surrounding the 2014 death of 20-year-old conscripted soldier named Yoon Seung-ju will be reviewed by the National Human Rights Commission starting Friday.
The so-called "Private Yoon Incident," which occured in April 2014, will be reviewed by the commission's military human rights committee, after Yoon's familly submitted a petition to investigate the case in April 2023.
The military initially claimed falsely that Yoon died due to a respiratory obstruction caused by food.
But the civilian Center for Military Human Rights Korea conducted an independent investigation that found that Yoon had sustained critical injuries to his major organs, ribs, muscles, including a burst spleen. The military initially denied the accusations, but a parliamentary audit confirmed a large-scale attempt on the military's part to cover up the incident.
Yoon's superiors, who subjected the victim to the brutal abuse that led to his death, were found to guilty of charges ranging from murder to assault and coercion. Yoon and the culprits behind his bullying and death were all enlisted soldiers serving their mandatory military duties.
The military officials responsible for the attempted cover-up, however, were cleared of all charges, despite the bereaved family seeking legal action against them.
The NHRC initially declined the Yoon family's request to review the case, saying the incident occurred more than a year ago. There is a clause in the National Human Rights Commission Act that states a petition can be turned down if the incident occurred over a year before the petition is made.
But the family and the CMHRK claimed that the rejection was an unfair decision made in retaliation by a standing NHRC commissioner Kim Yong-won, who allegedly took issue with the Yoon family's complaint related to another case involving military irregularities.
Yoon family and the civilian human rights body submitted a petition for a review on the deceased private's case in January of last year, requesting that Kim would not be involved in the deliberation, which the NHRC have accepted.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
