"Are You Out of Your Mind?" Navy Tried to Silence the Victim When She Reported Sexual Harassment: Military Investigation Underway

[경향신문]

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An allegation was raised against a Navy field officer who asked a female soldier, “Are you out of your mind?” and tried to silence her when she tried to report sexual harassment. The Ministry of National Defense launched an investigation following the belated allegation. The victim, who was sent to another workplace shortly after her report, later suffered secondary victimization from other senior officers and eventually chose to leave the Navy.

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun coverage on January 27, A, a female soldier of a lower Navy unit was sexually harassed by Sergeant B, her supervisor, several times from July 2017 to January 2018. Sergeant B rolled up his short pants and showed his underwear to A in the office where the two were alone. When A spent the night off base, B even told her to report where, with whom, and how she spent the night. A argued that B also instigated bullying within the unit and tormented her in addition to the sexual harassment.

In March 2018, A sought the counsel of the chief master sergeant on this issue, but had to suffer disadvantages. The officers in charge of the unit transferred A from her previous workplace, the executive office, to a small lounge next to a food waste collection area. The lounge was not equipped with any office equipment, such as a telephone and a printer, and it had no heating or air conditioning. Meanwhile, her assailant B continued to work in his office, subject to no personnel measures.

On May 8 that same year, A made an official report and asked Lieutenant Colonel C (battalion commander) who was the commanding officer of the unit at the time, to report her case to the upper unit and punish Sergeant B. According to internal regulations, if a member of the unit reports an incident of sexual violence, the battalion commander must immediately separate the victim from her assailant and report the facts to the division commander. However, C ignored such procedures and conducted an independent investigation the next day. During the investigation A was forced to face B several times and even had to endure verbal abuse. Since there was no printer where A worked, she had to print her statement using B’s computer. A said that she was extremely terrified at the time. In a phone call with the reporter, A said, “In an executive meeting, C said, ‘The division commander said make sure there are no problems since May is the month of the family,’” and argued, “It felt like they were pressuring me to stop making the incident public.”

A said, “After the investigation, C kept the case from being reported to the upper unit.” The investigation was concluded with B receiving a written warning, so on May 11, A asked C to report the case to the top. However, C said, “The case can end within our unit, but if we report it to the top, you will also be subject to disciplinary measures.” Then for four days, C continued to cajole A.

A eventually reported the sexual harassment to the division sexual trauma counselor on May 15. After that, A was separated from B. Hearing this news, C called A and lashed out, “Hey, are you out of your mind?” “Do you know what you just did?” A’s colleague who was with A at the time also heard his words.

When A returned to base, she was summoned by Major D, the operation officer in the unit. A had tried to see the sexual trauma counselor without C’s knowing it, so she had said she was going to take care of “administrative affairs.” The major found fault with this issue and reprimanded her for making a “false report.” D even summoned A’s company commander and reprimanded him in A’s presence.

After reporting her case to the division, Sergeant B was punished and discharged in August 2018. However, the field officers never received any punishment. A had not disclosed the secondary victimization she suffered from these men. Then last June, when the defense ministry designated a special period to report sexual violence following the death of Air Force Sergeant Lee Ye-ram, she reported Lieutenant Colonel C and Major D. The defense ministry is currently investigating the two men.

A was transferred to another unit in October 2018, but in April 2020, she was again transferred to where C was stationed. A suffered from anxiety after working two months in the same unit as C and last November chose to leave the Navy. A said, “When I saw the press coverage on Sergeant Lee’s death, I was surprised because it was so similar to my case. The military is driving the victims to their death.” She added, “I hope they will receive adequate punishment following a clear investigation.”

In a phone call with the reporter, C said, “I didn’t report it (to the division) because she (A) did not accurately tell us the facts concerning the incident.” He argued that he was not able to accurately identify the problem because A reported her case along with the cases of other female soldiers who underwent sexual trauma. He claimed A mixed her story with the stories of other women. As for the reckless words he poured out on A when A reported the case to the sexual trauma counselor, C said, “I can’t clearly remember the details of the phone call.”