Tearful plea from surviving soldier's mother of Corporal Chae’s death case

Park Mi-sook, the mother of Private Hong Jung-jeong, who died in 2016 after failing to receive treatment for acute leukemia in time, beats a \'drum of petition\' with tears in her eyes during a press conference calling for a national investigation into the \'death of Corporal Chae-mo\' in front of the main entrance of the National Assembly on Jan. 31. Chung Hyo-jin

In the morning on January 31, drums beat in front of the National Assembly in Seoul. It was the drumbeat of a plea from Ms. A, the mother of a surviving soldier who entered the Naeseongcheon Stream in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, to search for the late Marine corporal Chae Su-geun and a missing person in the flood in July last year. She fell down while playing the drum, cried, and then beat the drum again and shouted. “Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo, please reveal the truth. I just want to know who put our children in there, why the restoration work became a search operation, and why the infantry went into the water."

The Military Human Rights Center and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)'s task force to investigate the deaths of marines held a press conference in front of the National Assembly in the morning to demand a parliamentary investigation into the death of Corporal Chae to the national assembly speaker.

The press conference was attended by Ms. A and eight other bereaved families of the deceased in the military. The bereaved families held up signs that read, "The Presidential Office, the Ministry of National Defense, and the police are all involved," and "Parliamentary Investigation into the Death of Corporal Chae, Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, Please Make a Decision.”

"We need to tell Corporal Chae and his colleagues, 'It's not your fault,'" said Ms. A, who read a petition. "To do that, we need to know the truth about whose responsibility this is and whose fault it is. That's what adults and moms need to do now,” She also added, "Why did our children go into the stream without wearing a cheap life jacket where all the gates were open, rapids were flowing, and even tanks came out?"

"More than 50,000 citizens have petitioned for a parliamentary investigation, and more than 73 percent of the people say an independent counsel investigation is needed. Lawmakers also submitted a request for a parliamentary investigation in accordance with the procedure. I urge speaker Kim to make a decision so that the related people can tell the truth with courage under the protection of the National Assembly.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.