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A member of the Marine Corps awaits news of a fellow Marine who was swept away in flood waters while searching for those missing in torrential downpours in North Gyeongsang Province’s Yecheon County on July 19. (Yonhap)

A discharged Korean Marine is filing charges against Lim Seong-geun, the commander of the 1st Marine Division, for causing bodily injury through negligence on the job.

The Marine, identified as “K,” barely survived after being caught in raging waters while searching for people who had gone missing in a flood in Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province, this past July. A corporal surnamed Chae, who had also been in the vanguard of the search, died in the same accident.

The Center for Military Human Rights Korea said Wednesday that K, who was discharged from military service the previous day, plans to file the complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).

The center released a statement on K’s behalf.

“My superiors were so determined to protect the division commander that they didn’t hold anyone accountable for what Chae and the rest of us underwent. I’ve watched as my superiors punished the only people who were worried about the fact that marines on the scene had fallen into the water,” K said in his statement.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking during the exhausting days before my discharge. As an individual involved in the accident, and as the one who knows everything that happened in the accident, I couldn’t just walk away from this,” K said, explaining the reason he is pressing charges.

“I ask that justice be done for the unnecessary harm suffered by my comrades and me and the irreparable harm suffered by Chae, who is no longer with us. Our injuries and his death were not the result of valid orders for an operation to protect the lives and safety of the public. They were the result of unnecessary and reckless orders given by the division commander and people like him who were seeking to build up their own reputation,” the discharged soldier said.

Col. Park Jeong-hun, the former head of the Marine Corps investigation team, arrives at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, to provide testimony on Sept. 8. (Yonhap)

Lim is at the center of allegations that the Marine Corps’ investigation came under pressure from powerful people.

Col. Park Jeong-hun, the head of the investigation, submitted a report accusing Lim and other senior members of the corps leadership of manslaughter in connection with Chae’s death to the minister of national defense and transferred the case to the police. But later, the ministry retracted the investigation report and charged Park Jeong-hun with instigating an act of collective disobedience.

Park claims he was pressured by the ministry and the presidential office to omit the allegations against Lim from his investigation report.

On Sept. 13, K’s mother also filed a criminal complaint with the CIO accusing Lim of abusing his authority and causing bodily harm through negligence on the job.

“Since K has personally informed the investigative authorities what happened around the time of the accident, we expect the CIO to carry out a swift investigation while leaving no stones unturned,” the Center for Military Human Rights Korea said.

By Shim Wu-sam, staff reporter

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