An Army officer who forced a soldier to do pushups, leading to severe rhabdomyolysis, has been handed over to the military prosecution.
According to the military authorities and the victim soldier on the 18th, the Army 3rd Regional Investigation Unit sent Sergeant A to the Army Prosecutors' Office on the 14th on charges of abuse of authority with cruel acts and assault causing injury.
Sergeant A is accused of forcing the victim corporal to do pushups at the fitness training room of the Army 15th Division in Cheorwon County, Gangwon, on Mar. 9. At the time, Sergeant A was said to have repeatedly made the victim corporal do pushups by grabbing the top of the corporal's uniform and lifting and lowering the body.
The victim corporal complained of pain and asked several times to stop, but the request was not accepted. In the end, the victim corporal reportedly did nearly 100 pushups.
Afterward, the victim corporal experienced severe pain in both arms and showed abnormal symptoms such as cola-colored urine. Test results showed the creatine kinase (CK) level, which indicates the extent of muscle damage, soared to 77,380, hundreds of times the normal range. The victim corporal was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis and was hospitalized for two weeks of treatment.
The military police determined that the charges against Sergeant A were substantiated based on statements from unit personnel and the victim corporal's medical records. The victim corporal's family also submitted a petition and signatures calling for stern punishment, joined by about 4,500 people, to the Ministry of National Defense.
President Lee Jae-myung, mentioning the case at a Cabinet meeting in Jun., said, "There is public concern that outdated barracks practices like unreasonable punishments may be resurfacing." He then ordered a review of the state of human rights violations within the military.