Military personnel indicted in only 3 in 10 crimes against civilians

About 7,500 crimes have been committed by military personnel against civilians over the past five years, but indictments have been reported in only three out of 10 such cases, data from the defense ministry showed Monday. The number of detected crimes against civilians by soldiers and civilian military employees reached 1,595 in 2020, 1,503 in 2021, 2,084 in 2022, 1,627 in 2023 and 66 as of June this year, according to the data obtained and released by Rep. Huh Young of the main opposition Democratic Party. All told, the total number comes to 7,475 crimes, and the Army accounted for 5,340, followed by the Navy with 1,219 and the Air Force with 651. By the types of criminal offenses, there were 2,305 traffic crimes, 2,219 violent crimes, 1,276 sexual crimes, 1,067 fraud and extortion crimes, 596 thefts and robberies, 10 murders, and two arson cases, the data found. But indictments occurred in only 2,392 cases, or 32 percent of the total, they showed. Source: Yonhap News Agency