Tag: shootings

In recent years the mass shootings perpetuated by ROK Army personnel on their fellow soldiers has been widely documented to include the latest case where a soldier killed 5 of his comrades.  The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty in that case.  The killers usually blame bullying for the mass shootings.  This has caused the ROK Army to do a lot of introspection in regards to the culture of bullying in the ranks. The recent media attention on mass shootings makes it appear as if this is something new.  However, as I was browsing through the digital archives of the Stars & Stripes newspaper I noticed this article from June 3, 1968 that shows that mass shootings perpetuated by ROK Army soldiers is not something new:

This case is worse than the recent ROK Army cases because he attacked a crowded movie theater which killed 5 people and wounded 43.  Then what is up with this guy’s girlfriend wanting to marry him before being executed?  Especially when she was dating another man?

Anyway what I found most interesting about this was that all the way back in 1968 the ROK Army was talking about routine mental testing of recruits.  The ROK Army is making the same efforts today though one former ROK Army soldier in his opinion says the tests are a joke.  I think what this shows that is unfortunately hard to quantify too crazy to serve in the military with a test until people actually do something crazy.  That was true back in 1968 and still true today.