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Suspicion has been raised that the Air Force Gender Equality Center, which had been criticized for its delayed reporting in relation to the sexual assault and death of an Air Force non-commissioned officer, had poorly provided counseling for victims. This is reflected in the phone calls between the victim and his father that we obtained.



Reporter Kang Min-woo reported exclusively.



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Sergeant A was in self-quarantine on the premises last month after taking a leave of absence for two months due to sexual harassment.



Looking at the transcript of the phone call with his father on the 7th of last month, obtained by SBS, Sergeant A continues to complain of frustration.



He said, "The public defender doesn't give me his contact information properly," he said, and thought about changing his lawyer, but he said there was no counselor to discuss this with.



This counselor is Seonggo Chungmun Counselor at the Air Force Gender Equality Center.



Sergeant A said that the counselor said that he could only take sick leave after a fortnight due to personal circumstances, and that the only place he could request counseling is at a private counseling center in Seosan-si outside the military base.



Sergeant A, who was in self-quarantine and was not receiving adequate help from a lawyer, had no place to formally discuss within the unit.



[Kim Jeong-hwan / Attorney for the bereaved family: It seems that he was quite frustrated at the thought of not receiving any help from the two large institutions (public-appointed lawyers and Gender Equality Center) that he can rely on and on his side.



Earlier, it was revealed that the Air Force Gender Equality Center reported the incident to the Ministry of National Defense more than a month late, and the center director himself confessed that he did not know the guidelines well.



[Song Ki-heon / Democratic Party member: Why didn't you report it to the Ministry of National Defense? You should have known at the time, but at the Air Force Headquarters.]



[Lee Gap-suk/Director of the Air Force Headquarters Gender Equality Center: I was unfamiliar with the guidelines. Because I don't think it's important (not like that) (Is that a story that makes sense? It's true.)] The



bereaved's side is considering accusing the Air Force Gender Equality Center on charges such as neglect of duty.



In response, the Air Force denied allegations of poor counseling, saying that it introduced the victim to a counselor from an adjacent unit instead of a counselor who was on sick leave at the time.



(Video editing: Jeong Seong-hoon)