THE country’s military placed a substantially larger purchase of body bags than normal around the time when now-suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law on Dec 3 last year, a local media outlet and a lawmaker said, fuelling suspicions on whether the military anticipated a large number of potential deaths.
MBC reported on Tuesday that the army had 4,940 body bags in December, quoting data from Rep Choo Mi-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
The army had on hand 1,826 body bags in November of that year and the number stayed below 2,000 all year prior to December, which was when Yoon – currently on trial for impeachment and criminal charges of leading an insurrection and abuse of power – attempted to impose military rule on the country.
It was also reported that a military official from the Army’s II Corp made an inquiry in August to a civilian company that manufactures cardboard coffins about potentially ordering 1,000 such temporary coffins.
The official asked how long the order would take and “what if 3,000 people died, for instance”.
The actual purchase was never made.
The army said the extra body bags were residual orders made before but were delivered in December, “in accordance with the military’s five-year plan made in 2022”.
If the plan refers to the 2023-2027 plan announced in December 2022, it was to spend 331.4 trillion won in that time span for defence-related expenses, including acquiring antiballistic missile capacities against North Korea’s ballistic missiles.
No details about increasing the stockpile of body bags were included in information about the 2023-2027 plan, nor were there any in public announcements on other long-term military plans.
South Korea’s military normally has fewer than 100 deaths per year, according to the MBC report.
Regarding the inquiry about the 1,000 cardboard coffins, the II Corp said there had been a discussion within the military about potential battle deaths during the South Korea-US joint Ulchi-Freedom Guardian drills last year.
The plan was supposedly discontinued due to practical reasons.
Despite the military’s explanations, Choo wrote on Facebook yesterday that the body bags proved Yoon and those involved in his martial law plot had been preparing for numerous fatalities under the planned military rule. — The Korean Herald/ANN
