SEOUL — The former deputy commander of the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command was officially stripped of his job and dishonorably discharged from the South Korea army Friday, officials said.
Earlier in the week, a South Korean military court convicted Gen. Shin Il-soon of embezzling some $120,000 in military funds and diverting them for personal use.
The court fined Shin but did not impose a jail term or other penalties. Military prosecutors had asked for a five-year sentence. Under South Korean military law, the punishment had to be approved or rejected by the defense minister.
On Friday, officials said, the South Korean military command decided to discharge Shin.
According to a Ministry of National Defense spokesman, Gen. Kim Jang-soo was installed as Shin’s replacement on Thursday. Until then, Kim was a three-star general serving as the chief operations director for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, officials said.
The promotion to CFC deputy commander came with a fourth star.
The Combined Forces Command, led by U.S. Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, would control U.S. and South Korean forces in any conflict on the peninsula.
