Im Sunggeun, Former Division Commander in 'Corporal Chae's Death' Case, Appeals Three-Year Sentence to Supreme Court

Im Sunggeun, former commander of the 1st Marine Division, who was identified as the person responsible for the death of Corporal Chae Soogeun and sentenced to three years in prison in the appellate court, filed an appeal against the verdict on August 11.

According to legal sources on that day, Im’s legal team submitted an appeal to the Criminal Division 4-3 of the Seoul High Court, which presided over the appellate trial.

Seonggeun Lim, former commander of the 1st Marine Division, appeared as a defendant before the Special Investigation Team for Fallen Marines on the 27th. 2025.10.27 Photo by Dongju Yoon

Park Sanghyun, former commander of the 7th Brigade, and Choi Jingyu, former commander of the 11th Artillery Battalion, who were tried alongside Im, also filed appeals. Both had each been sentenced to one year and six months in prison in the appellate trial.

However, Lee Yongmin, former commander of the 7th Artillery Battalion to which Corporal Chae belonged, and Jang Mo, former company commander of the headquarters company of the 7th Artillery Battalion, had not submitted appeals to the court as of this date.

Previously, on August 7, the appellate panel found Im guilty of the main charges and sentenced him to three years in prison, the same as in the first trial. The court recognized that Im had neglected his duty to protect the lives and safety of his subordinates as their superior officer after the death of Corporal Chae in the flood site in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, in July 2023.

The charge of violating orders under the Military Criminal Act—specifically, failing to comply with the fragmentary order to transfer operational control to the Army and instead exercising command authority such as field supervision and directing search methods—was also found to be substantiated.

The prison sentences for the Marine Corps commanders, who had also been identified as responsible for the fatal incident along with Im, were upheld. The court found that Park, Choi, and the other defendants bore responsibility for either failing to clearly convey instructions or not fulfilling their obligation to prevent safety accidents.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.