The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains with us today. "That Day, Today" reads the present through the records of the past.
On this day four years ago, Sept. 27, 2022, a court handed down a suspended prison sentence to a soldier who slept while on guard duty. The soldier had completed mandatory service and been discharged during the trial, but the case was transferred to a civilian court and he was ultimately punished.
Seoul Western District Court's Criminal Division 7, sitting as a single-judge panel, sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, in their 20s, to four months in prison, suspended for one year, on charges of violating sentry duty regulations under the Military Criminal Act.
According to the ruling, A is accused of falling asleep three times at a guard post while serving at an air force unit in North Chungcheong Province between May 12 and July 17, 2021, saying they were tired.
The investigation found that A told a junior soldier assigned to the same shift to "wake me up before the duty ends," then lay down on the floor of the guard post and slept for about four to five hours.
Under the current Military Criminal Act, a soldier guarding a post faces punishment for sleeping or drinking alcohol. In cases involving a localized provocation or an infiltration by enemy agents, the penalty is death, life imprisonment or at least two years in prison. In wartime, during a rebellion or under martial law, the penalty is up to five years. In all other cases, it is up to two years.
A was discharged while the case was being heard in a military court, and the case was referred to a civilian court. The court said the defendant "violated sentry duty regulations three times," but added that it "took into account that those who served in the military alongside the defendant petitioned for leniency."
Cases like A's, in which soldiers are caught sleeping on guard duty, are not uncommon. What determines whether they are actually punished is intent. According to legal experts, briefly dozing off during an all-night guard shift is generally treated as a physiological matter and rarely prosecuted, but punishment is likely when a soldier is shown to have deliberately abandoned guard duty, as A did by having a junior soldier keep watch.
Violations of the Military Criminal Act rank second among types of crime in the military, after violent offenses. According to the 2023 Defense Statistics Yearbook, violent crimes accounted for 23% of cases involving enlisted soldiers, followed by Military Criminal Act violations at 18%, economic crimes such as theft and fraud at 17%, sex crimes at 13% and traffic offenses at 5%.
