After months of watching the abuse, Park felt he had to act.
The South Korean soldier had seen another low-ranking conscript, deemed effeminate and suspected of being gay, being sexually abused, beaten and forced to drink from a toilet bowl by other soldiers. But when Park — not his real name — tried to stop the abuse, he was instead subjected to it. “Who are you to intervene in private business?” a more senior soldier asked him. According to Park, he and the original victim were forced to have sex with each other while other soldiers taunted them. They were then further ostracized within the unit and by their superiors for being “perverted.” The abuse continued. Eventually, they attempted to kill themselves. So did two other soldiers suffering similar bullying. “We went to the boiler room to cut ourselves and banged our heads against the wall,” Park said. “All four of us were eventually taken to a psychiatric hospital.”