Cracking down on bullying in ROK

South Korea has enacted new military justice legislation. According to this report:

South Korea’s National Assembly passed a revised military criminal act on Thursday, requiring mandatory legal action to be taken against violence among military personnel even in the absence of a victim’s call for retribution.

The revision of the Military Criminal Act, proposed by the Ministry of National Defense last year and passed by the assembly earlier in the day, is aimed at wiping out any violence and bullying inside military barracks, the government said.

Before the revision, violent acts or threats on soldiers could lead to legal punishment, but only if victims wanted retribution. This allowed some offenses to go unpunished.

“Violence and threatening between soldiers have become an evil custom of our military that could not have been rooted out under the previous law,” the ministry said. “There has been a need to rewrite the Military Criminal Law so the military could bring charges and punish offenders regardless of the victims’ intent.”