ANNUAL REPORT 2015 2. Major Cases among the Complaints A. National Organizations and the Army ■ ‌Human rights violations due to the excessive collection of personal information by a battalion commander The Commission has received a complaint against a battalion commander: the respondent reportedly ordered the sergeants and officers under his command to submit their bank account statements on their salary over the past six months, claiming that he wanted to track down any gambler among his staff members who reside in the bachelor officer quarters (BOQ) outside the barracks. Through an investigation, the Commission learned that the commander got a tip-off that some of his staff members who reside in the BOQ outside the barracks are compulsive gamblers. Although the Commission acknowledged that the commander had to prevent gambling among his staff members and maintain order in his battalion, it found the measures he took too excessive and unreasonable; he could have taken other ways to address the issue, possibly by having his staff go through an education program to prevent gambling addiction, or take a more individual approach after identifying the problem through face-to-face meetings and investigations. Therefore, the Commission found that his actions clearly violated the freedom of privacy guaranteed in Article 17 of the Constitution. Considering that there was a similar case for which the Commission had to discuss in June, 2013, the Commission believed that preventive measures should be taken. Therefore, it issued a recommendation on June 17th to the Army Chief of Staff to spread the Commission’s decision across all subordinate forces under his command. The Army accepted the recommendation and instructed all forces to study the complaint cases from the Commission, including related content and education programs for army forces. ■ ‌Human rights violations due to verbal abuse by a battalion commander The Commission has received a complaint against a battalion commander: the respondent reportedly said “What the hell are you here for, scumbag?” and verbally abused a soldier who came to him with a plastered leg at the end of March, 2015, for a moving-in report. In addition, he was notorious for cursing and insulting his staff members from time to time. Through an investigation, the Commission found that it was true; although the moving-in 84 | National Human Rights Commission of Korea