"Smell of a Soldier": High School Student Assaults → Soldier Suffers Fracture Injury.. 'New Recruit 4' Episode Based on True Events [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

The episode depicting a group assault by soldiers in "New Recruit 4: Sabotage" (hereinafter "New Recruit 4") has drawn attention as it aligns with an actual incident that occurred in the past.

In the ENA Monday-Tuesday drama "New Recruit 4," broadcast on the 8th, three members of a living quarters unit who went out for overnight leave were shown getting into a confrontation with a group of delinquent teenagers.

During that broadcast, the group of delinquent teenagers provoked the soldiers by calling them "smell of a soldier." Kang Chan-seok (played by Lee Jung-hyun), worried that his subordinates might get hurt, bowed his head and even offered settlement money, but the teenagers proceeded to assault the soldiers indiscriminately.

Subsequently, the police treated the incident as mutual fighting, and the regiment commander urged for a quiet resolution. The president of the local business association also visited the unit, offering a dinner party in an attempt to cover up the situation. In response, Battalion Commander Byun Hyuk-jin (played by Lee Hyun-gyun), filled with anger, decided on a "boycott of the local commercial district" that would completely ban all battalion members from going out or staying overnight, taking a firm stance.

This development recalls an actual incident that occurred on March 6, 2011, in Yanggu County, Gangwon Province.

At the time, two soldiers who had gone out for overnight leave were subjected to a group assault by high school students in Yanggu County. According to Yanggu Police Station, eight high school students assaulted two soldiers, including Private Kim of an unnamed army unit in Yanggu County, near the bus terminal in Sangri-dong, Yanggu-eup, on the grounds that their shoulders had bumped into each other. One of the injured soldiers suffered a fracture below the eye and sustained serious injuries requiring six weeks of treatment.

During the police investigation, it was revealed that on February 27 of the same year, some of the same students had also assaulted four soldiers from another unit who were out for overnight leave in front of a restaurant in Sangri, Yanggu County. The police filed charges against ten high school students involved in both assaults without detention.

Following the successive incidents of soldier assaults, the military authorities at the time restricted soldiers' outings and overnight stays to protect troop strength.

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*This content was translated by AI.