S. Korean soldier cornered
June 23, 2014
South Korea dispatched thousands of additional troops over the weekend to catch a fugitive conscript whose shooting spree left five other soldiers dead and seven injured, Yonhap news agency reported Monday.
"We began operations to capture him this morning by mobilizing additional troops," an officer of the joint chiefs of staff was quoted as saying. "We expect to secure him within the day."
"If he continues to refuse our calls to surrender, it will be inevitable for us to shoot at him, though our goal is to capture him," the unnamed officer added.
The rogue soldier, whose surname Lim has been released, opened fire Saturday in his unit about 220 kilometers (137 miles) northeast of Seoul, before fleeing with a K-2 rifle and ammunition.
The soldier's parents are with the military and have pleaded with their son to surrender, the report said.
Exchange of fire
He traded fire with his pursuers late Sunday before digging in for the night in a section of dense forest outside a village some 10 kilometers (six miles) away.
Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told a briefing there were further sporadic exchanges of fire during the night, and Lim was still considered extremely dangerous.
"We don't plan to immediately move to capture him because we don't want to trigger any extreme behavior," he said. "We are encouraging him to surrender."
Most of the victims in Saturday's shooting were conscripts aged 19 to 23. The defense ministry issued a "sincere apology" over the incident.
"We pray for the souls of the victims and express our deepest regret for the victims, the injured and their families," it said.
Bullying and cruelty in the barracks have long tarnished the armed forces in South Korea and been blamed for suicides and similar shooting incidents.
bk/slk (AFP, dpa, Reuters)