Runaway SK soldier surrounded in forest
Print Edition
SOUTH Korean troops yesterday exchanged fire with a runaway soldier who was surrounded in a forest after he killed five comrades near his North Korea border outpost, and brought in his parents to persuade him to surrender, a defense official said.
One platoon leader was wounded when the sergeant, only identified by his surname Yim, threw a grenade and fired on military personnel closing in on him, according to a defense ministry official. The official said troops fired back.
Villagers in a nearby area were warned not to leave their houses. The village head, Jang Seok-kwon, said he heard gunshots ring out about 10 times.
The military brought Yim’s parents to the forest about 10 kilometers from the border outpost to try to persuade him to give up, the official said.
Yim opened fire on Saturday night with his standard issue K2 assault rifle at the outpost near the North Korean border in Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, killing five fellow soldiers and wounding seven others, the military said.
Yim, who was due to be discharged from the military in September, fled with his weapon, but it wasn’t clear how much live ammunition he had.
A defense ministry official confirmed Yim was considered a “protected and watched-on soldier,” which means he needed special attention. According to the official, the South Korean military assigns such status based on servicemen’s periodical personality tests.
Yim was designated a grade A protected soldier in April last year — one with a high risk of suicide or who for other reasons could not serve at heavily guarded outposts — then improved to grade B status last November. It means he was being watched, but could serve at the outposts at the commander’s discretion.
Thousands of troops from the rival Koreas are squared off along the world’s most heavily armed border.
There was no indication that North Korea was involved. But tensions between the two countries have been high recently, with North Korea staging a series of missile and artillery drills and threatening South Korea’s leader.
Both sides have also traded fire along their disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea. South Korea has repeatedly vowed to respond with strength if provoked.
In 2011, a 19-year-old marine corporal went on a shooting rampage at a Gwanghwa Island base, just south of the maritime border with North Korea. Military investigators later said the corporal was angry about being shunned and slighted and showed signs of mental illness before the shooting.
In 2005, a soldier tossed a hand grenade and opened fire at a front-line army unit, killing eight colleagues and injuring several others. Kim Dong-min said he had been enraged at abusive superiors.
All able-bodied South Korean men must serve about two years in the military.
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