Marine corporal loses symbolic name tag for abuse

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- A Marine corporal has been stripped of his red name tag for abusing a fellow soldier under the Marine Corps' new stricter code of conduct, a military official said Tuesday.
"After inspecting Marine units until July 31, we learned that a corporal at the 2nd Marine Division struck a junior Marine," the official said, referring to a unit in Gimpo, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul.
The official added the junior soldier had disobeyed orders from the corporal.
Last month, Marine Corps announced plans to overhaul barracks culture and to hand out tough punishments to violators of its new code of conduct. The decision came after a Marine opened fire on his colleagues inside a barrack at a seaside unit on Ganghwa Island on the Yellow Sea on July 4, killing four and injuring another.
As part of the steps, Lt. Gen. Yoo Nak-joon, the Marines Corps commander in chief, said abusive soldiers would be stripped of their red name tag, a patented emblem of the Marines here.
"Since the shooting incident, we've tried hard to clean up and root out violence and abusive practice," the official said. "We plan to remove tags from other Marines who are caught."
Military officials say the red tag, awarded just before the end of the seven-week Marine recruit training, is a significant symbol for Marines and losing it may be the most severe and disgraceful form of punishment for individual soldiers.