Defense minister apologizes again over North Korean boat crossing

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo apologizes Wednesday at the Seoul Government Complex, over the military's security failure of detecting a North Korean small wooden boat to enter into the South by crossing the maritime border of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) about two weeks ago. Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo apologized again Wednesday for a security lapse that allowed a small wooden North Korean fishing boat to enter into South Korean waters and dock at a local port. In a statement to reporters, he pledged to carry out disciplinary measures against military officials responsible for the defensive operations failure. He also denied that there was any cover-up by his ministry regarding the matter.

"According to a joint investigation, there were problems with the military's maritime border monitoring operations. This failure was a severe mistake and cannot be overlooked. The ministry has decided to take punitive action against officials responsible for the matter under the relevant regulations," Jeong said.

"The ministry didn't try to cover up or minimize the case, but the investigation found that the authorities hastily wrapped up the case and failed to provide a detailed and accurate explanation to the people. Again, as defense minister, I deeply apologize for not properly letting people know about this important security issue."

The minister also vowed to improve security operations and replace aging equipment to prevent any recurrence.

Jeong then left without taking any questions from reporters.

His remarks come amid mounting criticism of the security lapse that failed to detect the North Korean boat crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto North-South border. The boat was found in the port of Samcheok, Gangwon Province, by a South Korean civilian June 15, fueling suspicions that the government would try to cover up the incident.

Jeong made a similar apology June 20 and pledged to form a pan-government investigation team from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army and the Navy to figure out what happened and discipline officials responsible for mishandling the matter. Meanwhile, the ministry concluded Monday that the government didn't have any intension to cover up the case.

The allegation of a cover-up arose because the ministry changed its original announcement that the North Korean boat was spotted "at the Samcheok breakwater" to "near the port of Samcheok," raising questions about the change in the words used in the initial and subsequent explanations.

"The change was in consideration of military security," said Choi Byung-hwan, first vice minister at the Office for Government Policy Coordination who read a prepared press release from the investigation team. A military official said the first announcement was made after consulting relevant government organizations but declined to name them.

Meanwhile, Choi also said the investigation team found that the Navy's First Fleet failed to detect the boat, while the Army's 23rd Infantry Division was not fully informed by the East Regional Korea Coast Guard Headquarters regarding the matter. The government issued warnings to commanders including Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Park Han-ki for negligence in the performance of their duties, while relieving the commander of the Army's 8th Corps.

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