But the presidential panel's report concluded that Pfc. Kim was constantly battered by his senior soldiers and that an Army doctor's recommendation that he be separated from his attackers was ignored.

It also said Sgt. Kim, who the military said took his own life "for personal reasons" in the same year, was a victim of military violence, as he was found to have repeatedly suffered from physical and verbal abuses by senior soldiers.

The commission has asked the defense ministry to reinvestigate the deaths of Pfc. Kim, Sgt. Kim and 10 other soldiers, recommending that they all be reclassified as line of duty deaths.

"The commission will make further efforts to provide state compensation and medical expenses for former conscripts who died wrongful deaths or were discharged for mental illnesses," Lee In-lam, chief of the commission, said.

The 84-member presidential commission established in September last year under the Special Act on Ascertaining the Truth of Military Accidents Resulting in Death is scheduled to operate for three years. (Yonhap)