(AA) — A conscript was sentenced to death by a South Korean military court Tuesday, local news agency Yonhap reported — months after he killed five colleagues and left seven more injured.
The 23-year-old, surnamed Lim, had been serving in the army at a border outpost last June when he detonated a grenade and fired at fellow unit members.
Two days after the shooting spree, Lim was taken into custody after failing to take his own life while on the run.
He wrote a note before his arrest outlining his pain at being bullied.
“Anybody would have felt that life was more painful and difficult than death if they were in my shoes,” Lim stated in the message released by the military last July.
But prosecutors sought the death penalty, claiming the conscript had carried out a “cruel and premeditated attack.”
Among Lim’s victims was a superior officer, which also allowed for capital punishment under South Korean military law.
Even so, legal pundits had forecast a life sentence because an effective moratorium on executions has been in place in the country since the late 1990s.
The government has in recent months attempted to clamp down on barracks bullying amid widespread concern as able-bodied young men are obliged to serve in the military for around two years.
