South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk-yeol is facing intensifying political pressure over allegations he was involved in covering up the death of a marine last year amid outrage over the deaths of two more young soldiers this month, with analysts suggesting it could ultimately lead to his impeachment.
Opposition parties on Tuesday narrowly failed to garner the required two-thirds majority in parliament to pass a bill, already vetoed by Yoon, calling for a special probe into the death of Corporal Chae Su-geun, who died during a controversial search operation in a monsoon-flooded river in July.
But the parties promised to continue efforts to pass the bill in the new parliament that opens on Thursday.
Choi Jin, head of the Institute for Presidential Leadership think tank, said it would be difficult for such a probe to find conclusive evidence or eyewitnesses that would testify against the sitting president, who just entered his third year in office of his five-year term.
“However, Yoon is facing mounting pressure to get to the bottom of the incident. Corporal Chae’s death, together with the alleged scandals surrounding his wife [Yoon’s wife Kim Keon-hee], are dangerously adding to grounds to seek Yoon’s impeachment,” he told This Week in Asia.
Yoon is accused of interfering in the investigation into Chae’s death to protect senior military officers after allegations emerged that safety protocols were ignored during the operation in which the corporal was killed.
Adding to the outrage are the recent deaths of two young soldiers in training. On Wednesday, a conscript who had joined the military just 10 days before died during a punishing corrective training exercise in which he was forced to run laps in full military gear weighing over 20kg.
The dead soldier’s poor health was allegedly ignored by an officer, leading the conscript to collapse and die in hospital two days later.
His death came four days after a grenade explosion claimed the life of a soldier and seriously injured an officer during a training exercise in the central province of South Chungcheong.
The deaths of the young conscripts have sparked renewed anger among parents whose sons must undergo obligatory military service lasting between 18 and 21 months.
“I am greatly concerned about the safety of my son who joined the training camp today,” one parent wrote on The Camp, a website meant to be a communications channel between the military and recruits’ families.
Cho Kuk, head of the militant opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, said he was “appalled” by the deaths caused by what he called “anachronistic” military culture.
“After watching these deaths, who would send their sons to the military without concerns over their safety?” the head of the second-largest opposition party wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
Chonnam National University Political Science Professor Yoon Sung-suk told This Week in Asia that Yoon’s ruling People Power Party was facing a political crisis, with continued outrage over the soldiers’ death and other corruption allegations providing the opposition with “continuous grist” for its political mill.
Opposition parties will continue to control the National Assembly for the next four years due to their overwhelming victory at the April 10 parliamentary elections.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea claims that the presidential office illegally intervened to alter the results of the investigation into Chae’s death in order to clear then Marine 1st Division commander Lim Seong-geun of responsibility.
The presidential office has denied the allegations. Last week, Yoon vetoed the bill that would have enabled a probe into Chae’s death, saying the incident was already under investigation by an independent state anti-crime agency.
In January, Yoon also wielded his veto right to reject an opposition-led move to launch a separate special probe into his wife Kim Keon-hee, who is accused of manipulating stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a notable car dealer in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012.
Opposition parties have promised to reintroduce bills for special probes into both incidents in the new parliament.