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An Army private shot two higher-ranking soldiers early Thursday morning, killing one and wounding the other before fleeing the scene. The fugitive then attempted suicide on the side of a mountain behind the military base and is in critical condition. However, the military failed to report that an armed soldier had gone AWOL, and it was not until an hour and 20 minutes later that police began to search for him, giving him potentially enough time to reach the nearby city of Chuncheon or even Seoul and the metropolitan area. The event again puts the spotlight on major problems with discipline and safety in the armed forces.
The 20-year-old private identified as Lee was headed for the communications room to turn in his ammunition at around 1 a.m. at the Gapyeong base in Gyeonggi Province, but suddenly opened fire on Park Jong-seok (21) and Kim Sang-hyeok (22) before fleeing with one K2 rifle and 13 rounds. The bullet passed through Park's right shoulder and he died from blood loss. Kim took a bullet in his left arm and he was moved to Konkuk University Hospital in Seoul, where he is being treated.
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Tucks loaded with reinforcements leave an Army unit in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday after a private who shot two higher-ranking soldiers before fleeing the scene was found dying on a nearby mountainside.
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Immediately after the attack, the base commanders ordered a search that failed to turn up the shooter and set up road blocks around the base. Pte. Lee¡¯s parents were taken up in a helicopter over areas where commanders suspected he was hiding and pleaded with their son over the loudhailer to turn himself in. At around midday, a gunshot was heard on the mountain. Troops stepped up their efforts and 18 minutes later located Lee, who lay with a gunshot wound to the head. Lee was moved to a military hospital in Seongnam but remains in extremely critical condition.
Park was airlifted to the same hospital but had already lost too much blood and died there. His body was laid out in the hospital¡¯s funeral room, where the soldier's mother Kim Young-mi (47) collapsed in front of her son's portrait and wailed while his father, Park Han-young (48) stood weeping beside her. Park was the couple's only son. ¡°We got a call in the morning from someone saying, 'Your child is critical' but we thought it was a joke. I still can't believe that he's gone," the father said. "Right before he went into the Army we went to the public bath together and I washed him from head to foot." Park was unable to continue. Park took a five-day leave on Aug.1, which was the last time that his parents saw him alive.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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