Im Sung-geun, the former commander of the Marine Corps 1st Division, and other Marine commanders have received heavy guilty verdicts in their appeal related to the death of Corporal Cha Soo-geun. The court determined that the responsibility of failing to protect the lives and safety of the troops as a senior commander was serious.
On August 7, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 4-3 (Judges Jeon Ji-won, Kim In-gyeom, and Seong Ji-yong) sentenced Im to three years in prison, the same as the first trial, for charges of negligent homicide and violation of military law. The special investigation team for the deceased Marine had previously sought a five-year sentence for Im during the closing arguments.
Other field commanders who were also tried received the same sentences as in the first trial. Park Sang-hyun, the former commander of the 7th Brigade, and Choi Jin-kyu, the former commander of the 11th Artillery Battalion, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison. Lee Yong-min, who was Cha's direct superior, received a 10-month prison sentence, while Jang Mo, the former commander of the 7th Artillery Headquarters Company, was sentenced to eight months in prison with a two-year probation.
The court found that Im failed to fulfill his duty as a commander to protect the lives and physical safety of the troops who were deployed for a search operation without even the minimum safety equipment, such as life jackets, on July 19, 2023, at a flood site in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province.
Specifically, the court noted that Im harshly criticized the artillery battalion for poor search results and directed them to conduct an aggressive search, stating, "Do not look from the road; go down to the water's edge and search through the bushes." This directive was deemed disconnected from the actual situation on the ground.
Additionally, the court found that Im tolerated some troops conducting dangerous underwater searches in violation of safety guidelines and failed to disseminate necessary safety instructions or provide essential safety equipment, such as life jackets, beyond chest waders.
The court upheld the special investigation team's assertion that these unreasonable orders and negligence from senior commanders ultimately led to the tragic death of Corporal Cha.
Moreover, despite a brief order transferring operational control to the Army at the time of the incident, the court ruled that Im violated military law by not adhering to this directive and unlawfully exercising command over the search methods and on-site guidance.
However, the appellate court did issue a 'not guilty' ruling on some specific factual details previously deemed guilty in the first trial. This legal interpretation means that while the overall guilty verdict remains, certain aspects of the reasoning were found to be not guilty.
The first trial had cited Im's instruction to continue operations despite the Army's withdrawal order as a basis for guilt. In contrast, the appellate court noted that it could not definitively conclude that the continuation of operations by Park was solely due to Im's exercise of operational control.
Despite these changes in some judgments, the appellate court maintained that the negligence of the commanders and the causal relationship with Corporal Cha's death, as well as the core charges of violating military command structure, were all recognized, thus upholding the sentences from the first trial.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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