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Revisiting the 2024 compensation ruling for a slain Army sergeant's family

On October 18, 2024, the Seoul Central District Court ordered the state to pay a total of 90 million won to the family of a slain Army sergeant. The ruling came 23 years after the killing.

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The late Master Sergeant Yeom Sun-deok seated at a desk in military uniform
The late ROK Army Master Sergeant Yeom Sun-deok sits at a desk in military uniform in a photograph taken during his lifetime.

On October 18, 2024, Civil Division 27 of the Seoul Central District Court ordered the state to pay a total of 90 million won to the family of a slain Army sergeant. The decision came 23 years after the killing.

The court found that investigators had conducted an initial investigation so deficient that it could not reasonably be justified. It said this had left them with insufficient evidence.

The court also faulted the exclusion of important physical evidence. It found that military police had made a serious error by dismissing cigarette butts and other evidence as investigative leads without clear grounds for considering them unreliable.

A jujube-wood club found by police at the scene disappeared while in military police custody. How the suspected murder weapon was lost remained unexplained.

The court held the state liable for compensation, finding that the flawed investigation had left the killer, the circumstances of the killing and its motive inadequately established.