Republic of Korea Armed Forces Incident and Accident Archive
The South Korean military has had a decades-long tendency to take violence in the military for granted. Under the conscription system, there has always been room for incidents to occur, mainly due to the fact that the military is forced to keep soldiers who are unable to adapt to the military.
The South Korean army's conscription requirements have been relaxed year after year, and more and more soldiers who would not have been able to join the army due to their disabilities are now required to serve. Physically, even those with herniated spinal disks or missing knee cartilage are being enlisted and spending most of their time in the military. Mentally, the standards are not as high as they used to be. Men who would have been exempted from military service in the 1980s are now being called to active duty in the 1990s and beyond. Of course, there is an active duty suitability screening system, but the problem is that the standards are very high compared to the militaries of other countries.
This has led to a number of incidents in the military. The combination of Confucian tradition and military culture, which emphasizes the importance of hierarchy, has resulted in a strict hierarchy, which is difficult for young people to adjust to in a democratized and equalized society. The military is a closed organization, which means that internal problems are often ignored, dismissed, or ignored. As a result, the South Korean military has been plagued by a high rate of military incidents. Attempts to cover up murders, assaults, injuries, negligent homicides, and accidental deaths in the military have been publicized, and court cases with human rights organizations and bereaved families have been ongoing.
Republic of Korea Armed Forces Incident and Accident Archive sheds light on the incidents and accidents that have occurred within the Korean Armed Forces and the absurd realities they have revealed. It aims to document issues that are concealed and ignored in the closed environment of the military and raise awareness of structural problems in the military. More than just an archive of incidents, it exposes violence, human rights violations, and indifference to them within the military. We hope that the stories of victims of violence, injustice, and oppression that have been silenced will inspire our society to confront the oppression and injustice that takes place in the military and seek solutions.
Design, Research, Edited by Parc Jungbin