Kukmin Ilbo said the recent incident fully revealed that violence and harsh treatment are deeply rooted in the army.

It was disclosed that at least 940 soldiers of the marine corps required hospital treatment due to illness caused by beating and other violence in a matter of a little over two years. This goes to prove that beating is common phenomenon in the army.

Such practice of a superior as spraying inflammable to a uniform of his inferior to set fire to it and desecrating his religious belief, etc., are barbarous acts, it charged.

What is more problematic is that the upper echelon of the army is playing down and concealing the above-said facts and feigning ignorance of them, though it is informed of them. On this occasion those responsible for gun-related crimes should be held wholly accountable for them.

Hangyore said those who committed gun-related crimes this time are the victims of the barracks life torn with violence. The number of suicides is on the steady increase due to violence rife in the army, it noted.