 Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, left, and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Han Min-koo take an oath before the start of a parliamentary inspection session at the Ministry of National Defense, Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun |
By Lee Tae-hoon
The number of North Korea’s submarine drills in the West Sea in the January-August period has increased 25 times compared to that of 2008, a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Monday.
In a parliamentary inspection of the Ministry of National Defense, DP lawmaker Shin Hak-yong revealed that the North conducted 50 submarine drills off the west coast through the end of August this year, up from two over the first eight months of 2008.
“Am I correct that the North carried out only two submarine drills during the same period in 2008, but it soared to five in 2009, 28 in 2010 and 50 this year?” Shin asked Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin.
In reply, Kim confirmed that the figures are correct and added that Seoul should not rule out the possibility of the North’s further provocation despite its recent reconciliatory gestures.
“For the North, diplomatic issues and military exercises are completely separate matters,” the minister said.
The National Assembly launched its 20-day annual inspection of state affairs Monday.
According to figures that Shin obtained, the North reduced making hostile remarks from some 3,800 over the first eight months of 2010 to 3,200 during the same period this year; Slanderous remarks against President Lee Myung-bak were halved from 1,400 in 2010 to 700 during the eight months of this year.
Concerns over possible submarine attacks by the North have been growing since March last year when the communist regime torpedoed the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors aboard.
According to Shin, the number of North Korean submarine drills in the East Sea also went up from 25 to 39 last year, with most of them taking place between June and August.
The DP lawmaker noted that the Stalinist regime owns about 260 high-speed landing craft and hovercrafts for landing operations and the construction of its new naval base in Koampo in Hwanghae Province on the West Sea is nearly complete.
Shin said Korea should be on alert for a possible repeat of the Cheonan incident on March 26 as South Korean patrol boats and anti-submarine frigates are outdated and have been unable to detect North Korean submarines.
According to his data, a patrol boat named Sokcho failed to identify any North Korean submarines during a three-day exercise in August last year; patrol ships and frigates at the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command detected only about a third of North Korean submarines participating in drills in the first and fourth quarters of 2010.
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