22사단, GOP 총기난사에 이어 A급 관심병사 자살…충격

Published : Jul 28, 2014 - 17:07 Updated : Jul 28, 2014 - 17:08

지난달 총기 난사 사건이 벌어졌던 22사단에서 이번에는 이등병이 목을 매 숨지는 사건이 발생해 충격을 주고 있다.

육군 관계자는 “27일 오후 4시35분쯤 22사단에서 근무하는 신모(22) 이병이 화장실에서 운동화 끈에 목을 맨 상태로 발견됐다”고 28일 밝혔다.

소속 부대원들은 신 이병이 상황 근무에 나서지 않자 수색에 나섰고 10분 만에 화장실에서 그를 발견했다. 곧바로 병원으로 이송했지만 숨진 것으로 알려졌으며, 군 당국은 신 이병의 정확한 사망 경위를 조사 중이다. 유서는 발견되지 않은 것으로 전해졌다.

지난 5월 입대한 신 이병은 신병교육을 거쳐 이달 초 연대본부 직할부대인 전투지원중대로 전입했다. 신 이병은 GOP가 아닌 후방에서 근무하고 있었다.

특히 신 이병은 입대 전에도 여러 차례 자살시도 전력이 있어 입대와 동시에 A급 특별관심병사로 분류, 3개월 간 보직도 두 차례나 변경된 것으로 알려졌다.

한편 22사단에선 지난달 21일 임모(22) 병장이 GOP에서 총기 난사 사건을 일으켜 5명이 사망하고 7명이 부상한 바 있다.

네티즌들은 “22사단, 왜 자꾸 이런 일이” “22사단, 충격적이다” “22사단, 안타깝다” 등의 반응을 보였다.

(onlinenews@heraldcorp.com)

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‘Sergeant ostracized, mocked’

The sergeant who killed five soldiers in a shooting rampage last month had been taunted and ostracized while in high school and during his military service, the Army said Tuesday.

Announcing the results of the three-week investigation into the June 21 shooting, the Army said that the 22-year-old sergeant, surnamed Lim, was driven to go on the shooting spree after being mocked by his senior and junior colleagues.

A series of humiliating pictures that Lim’s fellows drew on the cover of the daily patrol logs particularly enraged him on the day of the shooting, investigators said. Weak, short and slightly bald, Lim was depicted as various silly-looking characters in the logs.

“We concluded that Lim’s crime was premeditated. … Our investigation found that (before the shooting) he reminisced about the stress he suffered due to being ignored and mocked by senior officials and fellow soldiers after joining the Army,” Brig. Gen. Sun Jong-chul, the head of the Army’s Military Police told a press conference.

“Our probe also suggested that (before the shooting) Lim thought he could not live well even after being discharged from the Army. He thus thought of killing all of his fellow soldiers and then killing himself.”

After completing his daily border defense duty last month, Lim detonated a hand grenade and fired at his colleagues in and around his barracks at a unit of the Army’s 22nd Division. The shooting left five soldiers dead and seven wounded.

The worst shooting incident since 2005 sent shockwaves across the nation, prompting calls to improve the outmoded, closed military culture and counseling program, particularly for those working at remote border units.

During the press conference, the Army also revealed the content of the note Lim wrote before he attempted suicide. Lim was arrested right after he fired at his upper body between the chest and left shoulder some 43 hours after he ran away.

“In my situation, anybody might have felt that it was much more painful to live than to die. I am to blame for much, but they are also to blame for some,” the note reads. “Children may harass dogs, may kill insects or worms without any guilty feelings. But they don’t really understand how much pain their actions bring.”

As bullying was cited as the primary reason why Lim went on the shooting rampage, the families of the victims expressed outrage, saying that the victims were being treated as though they were to blame.

The military investigators have arrested Lim on charges of killing his military seniors.

In the wake of the shooting, the military dismissed the majority of senior leaders in the frontline division from their posts for failing to properly supervise their soldiers and other issues including dereliction of duty.

The military also sent 150 soldiers, rated as those requiring special observation, to rear-area units after conducting a full-scale survey of the troops to check if they were unfit for a border defense duty. Lim was once rated as unfit for a frontline mission.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)