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General Army, Navy, and Air Force soldiers are usually handed over to trial and sentenced to imprisonment when they are caught deserting during military service, but KATUSA Soldiers assigned to USFK have neither been tried nor have been subjected to minor punishment.
According to data submitted today (13th) by Rep. Chae-Ik Lee, a member of the National Assembly's National Defense Council, a total of 11 KATUSA Soldiers were charged with leaving the military service (deathlon) in the last 10 years.
Of these, except for the five people who were caught at once in the beginning of last year after staying at home for dozens of days due to the command gap of the Korean and US forces just before the campaign, all the others were faced with no charges, suspended prosecution, and suspended sentence.
Deferral of prosecution is a disposition that a criminal charge is admitted, but the guilt is not bad and is not handed over to trial. A probation is a decision to dismiss a conviction after two years without special circumstances.
Lee pointed out that the uniform disposition of cotton bats differs from those of the Army, Navy and Air Force soldiers who were charged with similar charges and became ex-convicts after being severely punished.
For example, KATUSA Soldier A, who was accused of missing alcohol for 14 hours after being examined and returned from a hospital outside the unit, was accused of lacking evidence.
Corporal B, who had not returned for two days after agonizing over whether to break up with his girlfriend, was also prosecuted.
On the other hand, Corporal C of the Army, who did not return for 12 hours after vacation due to excessive work burden, or Corporal D of the Air Force, who left the unit for 17 hours a day due to irritation of military life, were each sentenced to 1 year in prison and 2 years probation.
According to the representative cases submitted by each military, the word'reconnaissance system' came out, so deserters of the Army, Navy and Air Force were sentenced to a relatively heavy sentence of usually one year in prison and two years probation.
Congressman Lee said, "It violates the principle of justice:'The same is the same, the different is different'," he said. "The law enforcement of the military prosecution and the military court should be applied fairly to all soldiers."