Both former 1st Marine Division Commander Lim Seong-geun, who was identified as responsible for the line-of-duty death of Private First Class Chae Su-geun (then a private), and the special prosecutor appealed the first-instance ruling.
According to legal sources on the 13th, the special prosecutor filed a notice of appeal with the court that day against the former division commander and others. The former division commander's side also filed an appeal with the court the previous day (on the 12th). Former brigade commander Park and former battalion commander Choi, who were tried alongside the former division commander, also appealed.
Earlier, the Criminal Agreement Division 22 of the Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Jo Hyeong-woo) sentenced the former division commander to three years in prison on Aug. 8 on charges of occupational negligence causing death and injury and violating an order under the Military Criminal Act. Former 7th Brigade Commander Park Sang-hyeon, who oversaw the flood damage site, and former 11th Artillery Battalion Commander Choi Jin-gyu were each sentenced to one year and six months in prison without labor.
However, the court said some acts did not constitute the charges and entered a reasoned acquittal. A reasoned acquittal means that when the facts in the indictment that are legally in a single-crime relationship with the overall guilty part are deemed not guilty, the court does not issue a separate acquittal but states that purport in the reasoning of the judgment.
Regarding this, the special prosecutor takes the position that there was an error in the first-instance court not recognizing as a breach of duty of care—and acquitting—the act of the former division commander having former Brigade Commander Park carry out about eight hours of on-site guidance on his behalf.
It also said it will contest the part of the first-instance ruling that denied causation between the former division commander's orders for "chest waders secured" and "checkerboard searches" and the accident.
The special prosecutor said, "A command style fixated on performance metrics that disregarded service members' lives, and a command culture that structurally prioritized offensive searches over safety, culminated in the death of one young person," adding, "We hope the principle that command authority must be accompanied by corresponding legal responsibility will be clearly established through the appeals trial."