The South Korean colonel who accused the president of whitewashing was acquitted

A South Korean Navy colonel who faced sedition and defamation charges was acquitted by a military court on Thursday after he accused President Yoon Suk-yul of whitewashing his investigation into the death of a Marine.

A Public uproar over this issue Colonel Park Jung-hoon rocked South Korea for months last year, prompting opposition lawmakers to introduce a bill to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his allegations. The political standoff intensified as Mr. Yoon vetoed the bill three times and the opposition threatened to oust him.

Mr. Yun was the ultimate isolation By the opposition-dominated National Assembly, but for another reason: his imposition of martial law for six hours last month, during which he was accused of sending troops into the assembly, which he said tried to paralyze his government. He was also accused of ordering the arrest of his political opponents.

Months earlier, the opposition had cited Colonel Park’s trial as an example of how Mr. Yoon’s government was abusing its power to silence opposition voices.

In its ruling on Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Seoul Central District Military Court acquitted Colonel Park of sedition and defamation of senior military officers. He has denied the accusations, saying they were made in retaliation for his efforts to hold senior officers in the South Korean Marine Corps accountable for the death of Corporal Lance. Chae Soo Geun in July 2023.

Corporal Chae and other Marines were sent to search for missing residents in central Seoul after floods hit the town, but they were not given life jackets and ordered to wear knee-high rubber boots, which hampered their movement as they waded. Floodwaters are fast-moving and waist-deep. Corporal Zhai was swept away and later found dead.

Colonel Park, who led the investigation into the incident, concluded that eight senior officers, including Major General Im Seong-geon, commander of the 1st Marine Division, were responsible for Corporal Chae’s death due to negligence.

He later accused the Defense Department of whitewashing its investigations and absolving senior military commanders of responsibility. He blamed Mr. Yoon, who he said “went into a rage” after he was told that his report held senior leaders responsible for the death. Colonel Park cited the Commander-in-Chief of the Marine Corps as his source for his knowledge of Mr. Yoon’s anger, but the commander denied making such a statement.

Colonel Park said he had resisted pressure from the Ministry of Defense to remove the names of senior officers such as Major General Im among criminal suspects, and that he had sent his files, as required by law, to the National Police for further investigation. The Ministry of Defense withdrew the files and later sent the police a redacted version, which named only two of the original eight suspects, both of whom were junior lieutenant colonels.

Mr. Yoon did not address Colonel Park’s allegation against him and was not charged in this case. But Colonel Park was charged with defaming his superiors and disobeying an order to delay sending his files to the police.

In its ruling on Thursday, the military court said the sedition charge could not stand because Marine command had no right to delay sending Colonel Park’s findings to police. She also said there was insufficient evidence that the colonel intended to defame his superiors.

Opposition efforts to launch a parliamentary inquiry into Mr. Yoon’s role in the Colonel Park case have been derailed by the political turmoil caused by his impeachment.

“There is a long way to go to find out the truth about Corporal Chae’s death,” Colonel Park said in a press conference after the ruling on Thursday.