[EDITORIALS]Army’s apologies are empty
Published: 28 Apr. 2006, 22:08
Horrible incidents continue to happen inside the military bases. At an Air Force army base, two senior soldiers abused another soldier by imitating torture, using electricity and water. At another base, a military battalion commander sexually abused a private.
Beatings, assaults and other brutal practices are strictly banned under the basic laws of military service. However, these incidents have been coming up recently.
We have been proud of our armies until recently. However, these incidents severely lower the morale and dignity of the army.
Before the two incidents described above, army officials announced they would carry out reform programs to change the barracks culture because of two other terrible incidents.
The first incident was that a company commander forced trainees at his camp to dip their fingers into human excrement and put their fingers back into their mouths.
The other happened at a guard post on the front line. A soldier fired a gun at random, killing eight soldiers and wounding others.
Then, the army announced that it would change the barracks culture and senior soldiers would supervise the junior soldiers closely to make sure such incidents didn’t happen again.
But inhumane and cruel practices occurred again.
Surprisingly, it was a company commander who had abused his man when he was supposed to help prevent such incidents from happening.
After these incidents, parents, friends and girlfriends of soldiers became extremely anxious and worried. Parents cried out, saying, “We regret that we have sent our sons into the army.”
The army should listen to the parents’ cries and try to make them feel relieved. They should take all the measures needed to make sure that these types of incidents don’t happen again.
These days more people want to avoid military service if they can.
But many parents still send their sons to the army because they believe it is the right thing to do as citizens. And many young men go to the army to carry out their duties of our nation’s defense.
The army keeps saying they are sorry about what happened. When they say it, they should mean it.
They should be ready to sacrifice themselves and should make effective measures to end inhumane and cruel assaults.
Beatings, assaults and other brutal practices are strictly banned under the basic laws of military service. However, these incidents have been coming up recently.
We have been proud of our armies until recently. However, these incidents severely lower the morale and dignity of the army.
Before the two incidents described above, army officials announced they would carry out reform programs to change the barracks culture because of two other terrible incidents.
The first incident was that a company commander forced trainees at his camp to dip their fingers into human excrement and put their fingers back into their mouths.
The other happened at a guard post on the front line. A soldier fired a gun at random, killing eight soldiers and wounding others.
Then, the army announced that it would change the barracks culture and senior soldiers would supervise the junior soldiers closely to make sure such incidents didn’t happen again.
But inhumane and cruel practices occurred again.
Surprisingly, it was a company commander who had abused his man when he was supposed to help prevent such incidents from happening.
After these incidents, parents, friends and girlfriends of soldiers became extremely anxious and worried. Parents cried out, saying, “We regret that we have sent our sons into the army.”
The army should listen to the parents’ cries and try to make them feel relieved. They should take all the measures needed to make sure that these types of incidents don’t happen again.
These days more people want to avoid military service if they can.
But many parents still send their sons to the army because they believe it is the right thing to do as citizens. And many young men go to the army to carry out their duties of our nation’s defense.
The army keeps saying they are sorry about what happened. When they say it, they should mean it.
They should be ready to sacrifice themselves and should make effective measures to end inhumane and cruel assaults.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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