Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Defense ministry hit for security bungling
By Jun Ji-hye
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Kim Kwan-jin Defense Minister
By Jun Ji-hye
The Ministry of National Defense has come under criticism for its bungling treatment of national security issues.
The latest in its series of bizarre controversies was its hasty announcement Wednesday morning that the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was investigating an object suspected to be an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) following a report from a local resident.
An official from the JCS said the resident found a blue object lying between rocks on Mount Cheonggye in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, triggering speculation that North Korea had sent another drone to the South.
Within hours, however, the announcement turned out to be false, compelling the ministry to backtrack. The man had mistaken a door from a portable toilet as part of a drone. The official explained that the resident thought the color and shape of the object resembled Pyongyang’s previous spy drones that crashed here in March and April, prompting him to immediately contact the authorities.
The ministry has been criticized for its hasty release of information to the media without first verifying the authenticity of reports. Kim Jung-hyun, vice spokesman of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) cynically said: “The behavior of the ministry deserves to be a topic of conversation overseas.”
Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said Thursday that the ministry only tried to inform the media that there was a report from a resident about a suspected drone, in response to a flurry of questions.
“Following previous cases involving the three drones found crashed near the inter-Korean border, the ministry promised reporters to offer a detailed report about any situations. We just tried to keep that promise,” said Kim.
The spokesman has already come under fire over his unprecedented tough remarks against Pyongyang when he said, “The reclusive state must disappear soon.”
The comments triggered an immediate response from the North, which warned him of a heavy price for his “thoughtless and flagrant” slander.
Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the ruling Saenuri Party called on Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin to immediately dismiss the spokesman.
“Kim acts as if he is a politician. The ministry’s habitual attempts to benefit from national security issues are going too far,” he said on his Facebook page.
The North Korea human rights activist-turned-lawmaker said that the spokesman’s remarks were consistent with the recent posture of the ministry.
“Between January and March, Minister Kim raised speculations that the North would soon take provocative action, and in April, he also speculated that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test soon,” said Ha.
The lawmaker argued that the ministry habitually tries project the spotlight on itself by creating an imaginary sense of crisis on national security issues.
“It is very easy to garner votes from conservative voters by simply touching North Korean issues at any time and in any situation,” said the lawmaker.
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