By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
The South Korean military was reeling from a shooting spree Wednesday, after a reservist fatally shot two colleagues and left two others injured before taking his own life.
An army statement revealed that a 23-year-old surnamed Choi equipped with a K-2 rifle “opened fire on his colleagues while receiving training at a military camp in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul, at 10:44 a.m.”
Spokesperson Ko Dong-heun told reporters that “investigators are looking into what caused him to go on the rampage.”
Of the four reservists rushed to a hospital, two succumbed to their injuries.
The army released a suicide note found in his trouser pocket that said: "Tomorrow, I will do shooting practice... I am becoming obsessed with thinking that I want to kill them all and I want to die."
According to local news agency Yonhap, the note contained complaints regarding the meaninglessness of life and the pain he was experiencing.
The agency cited an unnamed army officer who said Choi had been placed on a list of draftees "requiring special attention" and had been “transferred to several units during his service as he failed to adapt to the barracks life."
Around 600 reservists had gathered for three days of training, as is customary for young men in South Korea after completing their compulsory military service.
It appeared that "Gangnam Style" star Psy was among those taking part, but Yonhap reported that he had been granted leave less than half-an-hour before the spree.
The shooting was the latest in a series of high-profile incidents that have raised questions of military bullying and abuse in South Korea.
Only last summer a conscript killed five fellow front-line unit members, claiming that he had been insulted.
