About 10 military officers were found to have played golf in breach of their obligation to remain close to their units in early March when tensions with North Korea were running high, a government official said Sunday.
The Office for Government Policy Coordination looked into who used the 29 military golf courses across the nation between March 5-10 after media reports sparked criticism that senior officers played golf at a time whey they were supposed to be on alert against North Korean threats.
The probe found about 10 officers, all below general grades, traveled out of their jurisdiction to play golf during the period, officials said. They were referred to the defense ministry and the ministry plans to issue rebukes to the officers, officials said.
The period was when tensions on the Korean Peninsula were rising sharply as North Korea churned out near-daily threats of war, even nuclear attack threats against South Korea and the United States, in anger over their joint military drills in the South.
"Most used golf courses close to their bases, but some have been confirmed to have played golf in areas far away from their bases," a government official said. "We asked the defense ministry to deal with them according to the regulations." (Yonhap News)
