An enlisted soldier who fled after killing five comrades was captured Monday after a botched suicide attempt, the defense ministry said.
The 22-year-old sergeant, identified only by his surname Lim, was captured at 2:55 p.m. after shooting himself in the chest during a standoff with thousands of troops on a hillside in Goseong, about 220 kilometers northeast of Seoul, according to the ministry.
“He shot himself in the chest, right above the heart, but he is alive. We are now taking him to an emergency medical center for treatment,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said. “He is conscious.
But he is still bleeding, and may lose consciousness.”
“He asked to get a pen and a sheet of paper just some 30 minutes before he shot himself,” Kim said. “But it is yet to be known if he left any note.”
His capture came two days after he ran away with a K-2 rifle and about 60 rounds of ammunition after killing five colleagues and injuring seven others at a border outpost.
On Sunday, the military spotted his whereabouts, but failed to capture him as he first opened fire, which led to several rounds of gunfighting. A platoon leader sustained minor injuries.
The military launched operations to capture him early Monday, bringing his father and elder brother to the scene to plead with him to surrender.
“He seemed to be anxious about what will happen to him down the road, as he asked his family whether he will face capital punishment after being captured,” an Army officer said.
Earlier in the day, a soldier guarding against Lim mistakenly opened fire at one of his comrades. After sustaining a minor injury, the injured soldier was taken to a nearby hospital.
“Gunshots heard in the day were not from contact with the deserter,” a defense ministry officer said. “No exchange of fire between (our side and Lim) took place today.”
Hundreds of residents, who were evacuated to safety to a nearby school gymnasium upon the exchanges of gunfire between him and the troops, have returned home. There were no reported civilian casualties.
Shortly after wrapping up his guard duty lasting about six hours on Saturday, Lim detonated a grenade and fired shots at his eastern front unit.
The motive for the shootings remains unknown, though Lim was on a list of those requiring special attention as he had difficulty in adapting to military life, the Army headquarters said. He was to be discharged in September.
As he fired some 10 shots, the military suspected that he had aimed at the victims rather than shooting at random.
“It appears that what he did was not impulsive but premeditated. In general, those who committ such a crime run away while discarding their weapon or surrender to authorities,” an officer of the Army headquarters said.
“His comrades said he was quiet and somewhat timid and has not been very much associated with them,” he added.
In a personality test in March 2013, he was categorized as a “Grade-A” soldier who needed special attention and was not fit for frontline service. The same test nine months later, however, found him to be a “Grade-B” soldier who was still on the list but capable of serving such duty.
It is not the first time that an enlisted soldier has attacked his comrades. In 2005, a South Korean Army private set off a hand grenade and opened fire at a unit near the border with North Korea, killing eight sleeping colleagues and wounding two others.
In 2011, a Marine Corps corporal went on a shooting spree at a seaside unit on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, killing four soldiers and wounding one.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to carry out compulsory military service for about two years as the country faces North Korea across the heavily fortified border.
South Korea’s military law stipulates that a soldier on an active duty shall face capital punishment for killing his/her superior officer. The corporal in the 2011 shooting spree case received the maximum sentence allowed by law. (Yonhap)
