South Korean troops surround soldier who killed five comrades

SEOUL — The parents of a South Korean conscript soldier who killed five comrades in a grenade-and-gun attack pleaded with him to surrender yesterday, after he exchanged fire with troops who had tracked him down near a school close to the North Korean border.

Late on Saturday night, the soldier threw a grenade and opened fire with his standard issue K2 assault rifle, killing five members of his unit and wounding seven others at an outpost in the base in Goseong county, a mountainous region that borders the North on the eastern coast of the peninsula. The soldier fled with his weapon, but it was not clear how much live ammunition he had.

A manhunt went into full swing at daybreak, with helicopters sweeping the heavily-forested hillsides. Special forces took part in a search that involved the equivalent of nine battalions, said a colonel briefing the media.

Discovered hiding near a school about 10km from the base, the soldier opened fire on troops, wounding a platoon leader in the arm, YTN television news channel reported. Troops had orders to shoot and kill unless the fugitive soldier surrendered, said YTN.

Yonhap news agency said the soldier’s parents were taken to the site, where his mother pleaded with him to surrender as a stand-off developed after the initial burst of gunfire.

“I heard several gunshots for 10 minutes,” said Mr Byun Sang-man, an 80-year-old farmer from the village. “We can’t go outside ... Soldiers have spread out all around our town. The headman told people through loudspeakers this morning to stay inside.”

A military official identified the runaway soldier as Sergeant Lim and said he was due to be discharged on Sept 16. The official, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, described Lim as an introvert and said there had been earlier concerns over his psychological health, but he was deemed fit to be deployed to the outpost after passing a test last November.

Following the shooting, the military threw a cordon around the search zone, including guard posts along the Demilitarised Zone, a 4km-wide swathe of land serving as a buffer between the North and South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North and South are technically still at war as their conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and the border is regarded as potentially one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.

The shooting comes at a sensitive period for South Korea, with the nation still in shock after the deaths of more than 300 people, mostly school children, when a ferry sank in April.

The defence ministry issued an apology to the nation over the shooting. “I offer my sincere apology to Koreans for causing worry,” said spokesman Kim Min-seok yesterday.

All able-bodied South Korean men must serve for about two years under a conscription system and there are concerns that new recruits are softer and find it harder than past generations to adapt to military life. AGENCIES