SEOUL– A female Navy noncommissioned officer was found dead at her base on Thursday after the military launched a probe into allegations that she was sexually harassed by a senior colleague, the Navy said.
Her death added to public criticism about reports of recurring sexual abuse in the military, including an incident that led to the suicide death of a female Air Force service member in May.
The body of the 32-year-old chief petty officer, whose name was withheld, was found at her accommodation earlier in the day, amid the probe into the allegations that a senior chief petty officer at her former unit sexually molested her.
The alleged victim was said to have claimed that she was harassed by the senior colleague at an off-base restaurant in late May. Navy officials said she had remained separated from the alleged perpetrator after the case was reported.
But questions on whether the Navy took proper steps have been raised, as the alleged victim was said to have been assigned to her new unit on Monday following her stint in the island-based unit where the incident allegedly took place.
The military police reportedly started to question her on Tuesday and investigate the alleged perpetrator the following day.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Boo Suk-jong received a briefing on her case only after her death, and then reported it to Defense Minister Suh Wook.
The Criminal Investigation Command under the defense ministry and the Navy’s investigation authorities will carry out a thorough probe and sternly punish the one responsible for her death, the Navy said.
The military has been striving to stamp out sex crimes in barracks — an effort that accelerated following the death of an Air Force noncommissioned officer in May, three months after she was sexually abused by a colleague.
Source: Yonhap News Agency