Sergeant A and Sergeant B, who were together in a valley in Gapyeong at the time of the death of Sgt. Jo Jae-yoon, visited the same valley in May of last year, four months before the accident.
Something similar happened that day when Sgt. Joe jumped into the water despite his reluctance.
Sergeant B, who can't swim like Mr. Cho, said he would save him if he fell, so he dived and fell into the water.
Fortunately, a non-commissioned officer other than Sergeant A jumped in and rescued him.
During the military investigation, Sergeant B said, "I was scared, but I had to run, and I wouldn't be here without the other party." He said, "Mr. Cho doesn't seem to want to run either.
In 2020, there was also a statement that Sergeant A himself fell into the same valley and was rescued.
However, until the death of Sgt. Cho, the unit did not take any action.
There was no report, so I didn't know.
In the investigation record obtained by SBS, the officer stated, "I reported the case of Sergeant B around May or June and told the battalion commander that training was necessary."
[Lee Ji-hoon / Representative of the bereaved family: This kind of confusion is something that cannot happen in the military.
(Shortly after the accident in May) Even if there was no disciplinary action, even if I gave a severe warning or at least that much…
.]
In July of last year, a non-commissioned officer drowned in another unit, and an accident prevention training instruction was issued to the entire division.
Sergeant A stated that he was educated but not familiar with it.
[Jo Eun-kyung / late Sergeant Jo Jae-yun's family: Everyone says they don't know me and I don't take responsibility...
.You can take him again and commit this kind of thing.
Others really shouldn't go through it.
People who haven't been through it really don't know.]
This is SBS Ahn Hee-jae.
(Video coverage: Sang-bo Kim, Yong-woo / Edit: Jeon Min-gyu)