A South Korean army sergeant accused of killing five fellow soldiers is expected to survive a self-inflicted gunshot wound received before his capture Monday.
The 22-year-old, identified only by the last name of Lim, hid in a forest after a rifle and grenade attack Saturday that killed five soldiers and wounded seven at an outpost near the demilitarized zone bordering North Korea.
South Korean troops cornered the soldier in Goseon, about 220 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Sunday afternoon.
Lim shot himself in the chest with an assault rifle as family members approached, asking him to surrender. He was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, a Defense Ministry official told the Associated Press.
A memorial for the dead soldiers has been set up in the city of Seongnam.
Similar shootings have occurred in the past.
In 2011, a 19-year-old marine corporal went on a shooting rampage at a Gwanghwa island base, just south of the maritime border with North Korea. Military investigators later said the corporal was angry about being shunned and slighted and showed signs of mental illness before the shooting.
In 2005, a soldier tossed a grenade and opened fire at a front-line army unit in a rampage that killed eight colleagues and injured several others. The shooter told investigators he was enraged at superiors who verbally abused him.
In both cases, the men were sentenced to the death, however those sentences were not carried out.
The 22-year-old, identified only by the last name of Lim, hid in a forest after a rifle and grenade attack Saturday that killed five soldiers and wounded seven at an outpost near the demilitarized zone bordering North Korea.
South Korean troops cornered the soldier in Goseon, about 220 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Sunday afternoon.
Lim shot himself in the chest with an assault rifle as family members approached, asking him to surrender. He was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, a Defense Ministry official told the Associated Press.
A memorial for the dead soldiers has been set up in the city of Seongnam.
Similar shootings have occurred in the past.
In 2011, a 19-year-old marine corporal went on a shooting rampage at a Gwanghwa island base, just south of the maritime border with North Korea. Military investigators later said the corporal was angry about being shunned and slighted and showed signs of mental illness before the shooting.
In 2005, a soldier tossed a grenade and opened fire at a front-line army unit in a rampage that killed eight colleagues and injured several others. The shooter told investigators he was enraged at superiors who verbally abused him.
In both cases, the men were sentenced to the death, however those sentences were not carried out.
