Seoul, South Korea -- A deadly rampage by an army conscript guarding the last Cold War fronter is heightening concerns about discipline in the South Korean military and its ability to defend the country against the communist North.
There already were worries because of recent lapses in security along the Demilitarized Zone, which has divided the peninusla since a cease-fire halted the Korean War in 1953 but left the two nations facing off across one of the world's most heavily armed borders.
Two years of military service is compulsory for South Korean men, and the army is notorious for mistreatment of conscripts. After a trooper killed eight fellow soldiers Sunday, the Defense Ministry admitted a culture of harassment permeates the military, and President Roh Moo-hyun called for a review of discipline.
Pfc. Kim Dong-min, 22, described by investigators as a timid computer-game fan, reportedly was angered by taunts from an officer. He allegedly threw a grenade into a barracks full of sleeping soldiers and fired dozens of shots at officers.
The same day, two other conscripts committed suicide while on duty, apparently due to the pressures of their service.
One hanged himself with his shoelaces, and his family said he had written in a diary that he was embarrassed at being beaten in front of other soldiers and feared further abuse. Another private set himself on fire.
The three incidents added to concerns about military efficiency following recent stumbles in keeping the border secure.
Just last week, a man who apparently was a North Korean soldier was found wandering around south of the DMZ seeking to defect. In April, the North returned a fisherman whose boat drifted across the sea border while he was drunk after the South's navy failed to force him to turn back.
"The fact that these things happen one after another shows that there are huge faults and problems with the military discipline and security conditions," said Park Geun-hye, leader of the main opposition Grand National Party, which called Tuesday for the defense minister's resignation.
Duty at the DMZ can be lonely. There is no phone contact with loved ones during 100-day assignments for conscripts, and regular mail takes a week to arrive, said Choi Kwang-soo, 24, a student who in 2003 served at the same post where Sunday's shooting occurred.
But Choi said the isolated frontier posts can in some ways be easier than being at a regular base because there aren't any high-ranking officers around.
Kim, who appears slender and wears clear-rimmed glasses in a self-portrait posted on his Web site, allegedly plotted his Sunday rampage for two days after an officer swore at him for not offering to help clean a kitchen drain.
"His superiors probably scolded him because he didn't do his job well," said Choi, who completed his military service last year. "If you do your job well, they don't bother you."
South Korean media have been filled with commentary questioning whether a generational divide is to blame. Today's young people are more focused on individualism and are living in more prosperity than their parents did, and they are growing up at a time when they see the Seoul government striving to reconcile with the North.
Earlier this year, South Korea's Defense Ministry changed its guidelines to no longer name the North its "main enemy." And last week, a South Korean minister met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il where the sides pledged to improve cooperation and move toward reunification.
"The enlisted men have no idea what they are sacrificing their youth for and why on Earth they should forgo a good night's sleep to stand sentry duty," the South's leading conservative newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, wrote in an editorial this week. "Our military is now unable to explain against whom the soldiers should defend the state."
Parents whose young men are heading to military service are increasinly anxious over what awaits their sons after the killing rampage.
"I thought the military was something worth experiencing for boys, but I worry something like this will happen," said Kim Sun-young, 46, a university lecturer whose 21-year-old son has finished half of his army stint. "It is every mother's horror that they lose their child to something like this."
