The slaps heard round South Korea

Yonhap News Agency reports here on a decision of the Republic of Korea's Supreme Court remanding a case in which a colonel had repeatedly slapped a junior soldier for failing to salute him. The soldier did not want to press charges, but the case is going ahead anyway. Excerpt:

In the first trial, he was found guilty, but an appeals court dismissed his indictment by agreeing with his argument that the U.S. military base is not subject to the Military Criminal Act and violence cannot be punished against a victim's objection under the civilian criminal code.

However, the Supreme Court rejected that decision and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for a retrial, saying it does not matter whether the violence took place on a military base for foreign troops or not as long as it happened at a place used for the country's military operations.