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Army agrees to pay damages to family of private who was bullied to death

Published: 13 Oct. 2025, 11:50 Updated: 13 Oct. 2025, 18:26

One of the perpetrators involved in the death of Pvt. Yoon Seung-joo appears in court in September 2014. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The Army has agreed to pay 25 million won ($17,500) in damages to the family of the late Pvt. Yoon Seung-ju, who died in 2014 after being severely beaten and abused by senior soldiers. The family, however, says it plans to appeal, citing the military's lack of apology or remorse.

According to a state compensation decision released Sunday by the family, the Army's 5th Corps compensation review board acknowledged state liability and ordered that Yoon’s parents each receive 10 million won, while his two older sisters receive 2.5 million won each.

The amount was calculated based on the standards outlined in the Enforcement Decree of the State Compensation Act, which sets 20 million won as the maximum for the deceased in such cases. The parents of an unmarried victim are each entitled to half that amount, and siblings are entitled to one-eighth. Until last year, however, families who received military pensions were barred from claiming damages due to a prohibition on duplicate compensation.

A revised version of the State Compensation Act, effective Jan. 7, 2025, now allows bereaved families of soldiers who died in the line of duty to claim damages for emotional suffering. Yoon’s family had initially requested 160 million won in compensation.

Pvt. Yoon’s case is regarded as one of the most egregious examples of abuse in the military. He died just a month after being transferred to the medical corps of an artillery battalion under the 28th Infantry Division in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi.

A military investigation found that from the day Yoon arrived, five assailants repeatedly beat him. When he limped from pain, they struck the same area again, using a desk lamp and sandbags as weapons.

Four months after Pvt. Yoon Seung-joo’s death, members of the Military Culture Reform Committee visit the unit to conduct a human rights training session in December 2014. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

As members of the medical unit, they even administered IV fluids to Yoon to keep him conscious while continuing the beatings. On the day before his death, Yoon was assaulted from 7:30 a.m. and eventually collapsed, drooling. Believing he was feigning illness, they struck his chest and abdomen again. He was transferred in a brain-dead state and died on April 7, 2014.

Four months after Yoon’s death, a military culture reform committee visited the unit to conduct human rights training.

“We have spent over a decade fighting against a military that falsified Yoon’s cause of death as suffocation,” the family told local news outlet Hankyoreh, adding that “the long and painful process of uncovering the truth must be reflected in the compensation.”

The Army said the Ministry of National Defense would handle the compensation payment and that it is aware of the family's intent to appeal, which would be processed accordingly.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM CHUL-WOONG [[email protected]]