South Korea’s military and police have launched an investigation into former Air Force soldiers for allegedly sexually harassing and insulting their female superiors.
The country’s Air Force said late Monday that six former airmen -- whose identities have been withheld -- who were stationed at the unit’s combat squadron in Wonju, Gangwon Province, are accused of sexually harassing higher-up female officers by posting their names and pictures in documents that were being used for handover purposes during their night shifts from November 2021 until July 2022.
The probe also found out that the documents contained lewd comments such as “I want to rape (her)” and “(she) looks like a race car girl.” The military said such remarks were sexually inappropriate and offensive, and could be interpreted as being aimed at the female superiors.
However, the Air Force has come under fire for its benign response toward those making sexually abusive comments. It did not take immediate action against the discharged after the case was first reported to the related unit in March, according to reports. Instead, staff reportedly tried to cover up the case by ordering the related files to be deleted and not reporting it to the battalion commander, failing to protect the victims.
Meanwhile, the Air Force said it had taken disciplinary action against two high-ranking officers for their delayed reporting of the incident, and requested civilian police officers to look into one discharged soldier believed to be the ring leader on charges of defamation.
