June 27, 2005
Allegations of abuse levelled at military over nude photos
Shades of AbuGraid in South Korea... and how new technologies allow military mis treatment to be revealed to the world.
A bad week for Korea's security forces has been made worse by the publication online of humiliating pictures of young personnel, this time of what appear to be conscripts in the Marines, reports Digital Chosunilbo.
"The images follow a killing spree at a DMZ guard post apparently triggered by incessant bullying from senior soldiers, revelations about primitive living conditions of enlisted men and nude photographs from a riot police unit (picture left).
"Of the four Marine Corps pictures circulating in cyberspace, two appear to be souvenir photographs showing about 10 naked soldiers facing front. One shows a senior soldier looking in the underpants of a junior. The last shows a group of naked soldiers outside in the winter.
The Marine Corps said the caps in the pictures suggest the subjects are marines but estimated they were taken some years ago".
With the allegations of abuse levelled at the military over the nude photos, Defence Minister Yoon Kwang-Ung ordered an investigation, reports the AFP.
"Since the pictures of naked policemen have spread out through the Internet, we have been looking into any possible human rights violations or rigor actions (bullying by seniors) in police barracks," said a police spokesman in Wonju.
A Marine Corps official said the nude photos of soldiers had reportedly been posted on the Internet by a discharged marine.
In one photographs raw recruits trying to covering their genitals with their hands were foced to stand naked on a snow-covered drill ground as a senior stood by holding a stick.
Two-year national service is mandatory for men over the age of 18 in South Korea. Some choose to serve outside the military, as riot police".
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