The reaction to the Netflix drama 'DP' is hot.
The response from men who have served in the military is great.
The drama is set in 2014, when Private Yoon died.
The absurdity in the military is portrayed in a naked and realistic way.
Even me, as the civil defense was coming to an end, I was uncomfortable with the memories of my military days.
A media report about the drama drew attention.
Citing an official from the Ministry of National Defense, he said, "It's a bit harsh to see it as an absurdity of the front-line units in 2014. Overall, it seems to have dramatized the events of the mid-2000s."
It means that it is closer to 'exaggeration' than 'reality'.
It's a bit harsh to fact-check the words of an official whose source is not clear.
However, I think it is necessary to take out the self-portrait of our military in a calmer way.
I'm going to try to figure out whether the current state of the military is really as cruel as it is portrayed in a drama, based on facts.
This article may be more like an essay than a fact check.
Drama in the verdict
The drama depicts the atrocities in the military without filtering.
Wearing a gas mask and tortured with water, reading a letter from the mother of a successor in difficult family circumstances, insulting them by saying “Are you a beggar in your house?” and even forcing the successor to masturbate while on duty.
I'd like to know how this could be done in a common sense.
I looked up the rulings of the military courts related to the atrocities.
No past records were found.
In order to look at the current state of the military, only judgments made in the last two years were used as the basis.
Unfortunately, a scene from a drama that portrayed the military in 2014 was completely melted in the sentence of the 2020s ruling.
… … The act of applying shock by pouring water on the victim's right knee in combat uniform and operating an electric flywheel on the wetted right knee to allow electricity to pass through the victim's knee was repeated for 15 minutes. … The victim suffered a right knee tendonitis injury that required 4 weeks of treatment.
- Higher Military Court 2021 No 17, 2021. 4. 22
… … He told the victim, "Your parents raised you that way." He said, "My parents are garbage. My parents raised me, who is garbage. I am a sinner. Therefore my parents are also sinners. , when the victim refused to do so, by having the victim lie on the floor of the dormitory and then do about 30 push-ups … …
- Higher Military Court 2021 No 202, 2020. 11. 26
… … When I had the victim describe the sexual act against the sleeping bag or masturbate, I said, "You XXX guy, don't you do it straight, do it while making a XX sound ..." In light of the fact that I have repeatedly said, "Do it quickly... …
- Higher Military Court 2020 No 257, 2020. 12. 10
The torture, insults, and molestation depicted in the drama are mirrors of our military today.
Less description means less, not more.
Personally, when I read the verdict, the bitterness was no less than when I watched the drama.
Because it proved that it was a 'fact', not an 'imagination'.
Sometimes facts are more sensational.
You should also look at the general trend.
This is the 'Trend of Assault and Harassment Cases' data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to the National Assembly Legislative Investigation Office.
Citing the table above, the Legislative Investigation Agency diagnosed that "the number of cases related to physical assault between military personnel using bodies or objects is showing an overall increasing trend."
In fact, it is easy to find research results such as that the issue of harshness in the military has not progressed as much as expected, and that there is still a long way to go.
There are still many challenges for our military to solve.
'General' experiences and 'general' emotions
It cannot be said that the case of the judgment is the general experience of the military. Since this is a rare case, the military prosecutors would have prosecuted it, and it would have gone to trial. However, there is no need to defend as 'exaggerated' or 'not common experience' for the rarity of the case. Rather than questioning whether it is a 'general experience', I would like you to pay attention to the 'general emotion' felt by the soldiers first.
What is clear is that the atrocities portrayed in the drama, whether frequent or rare, still occur in the military today, and the soldiers endure it with fear, fear and anxiety. The number or intensity of harsh acts is not directly proportional to the level of fear, frustration, or anxiety that soldiers usually feel.
In fact, most of the atrocities would not have happened had it not been for the military. The military organization inevitably trains monsters because of its strict discipline and its closedness. It is difficult to blame only the demonic nature of a particular individual. Naturally, it is not easy to fight absurdity in the military organization.
There is only a difference in the degree of each aberration, and a significant number of atrocities are naturally accepted into the daily life of the military. While suffering from harsh acts, there are also us here who have become dull again. This time, while looking through the data related to military brutality, there was an impressive passage in the service report of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
While 193 persons experienced human rights violations, 750 persons (double response) were treated unfairly, making it difficult to make a simple comparison. Although it is difficult to determine, these results seem to be disproving that many of the ill-treatment are not recognized as human rights violations.
- National Human Rights Commission of Korea, <2019 Investigation of the Human Rights Situation in the Military> Research Service Report, November 2019
The expression “dispute that it is not recognized as a violation of human rights” caught my eye.
In fact, it is not easy to dare to think about human rights in a violent organization.
Even imagining the right of attorney takes great courage.
Violence is thus freed, and serious human rights violations often become insignificant as injustice.
Insensitivity breeds violence.
In this respect, atrocities within the military are more of an organized crime than an individual crime.
This is why the Ministry of National Defense is constantly researching and suggesting alternatives.
Recently, I was talking about a drama while having a conversation with my co-workers.
Naturally, we moved on to each other's military saga.
I, too, giggled about my experience of being craved in the military.
As I pondered later, as if the memories of the past two years were nothing, I began to think more about whether I was comforting myself by saying that I had survived somehow.
I wondered if I was healing the wounds that I had been passing through so far, and furthermore, maybe I, who was dull during those sad times, also contributed to raising the monster.
As always, you have to be insensitive to be able to endure it.
(Source: Song Hae-yeon, Kwon Min-sun)