By Jun Ji-hye
Rep. Park Jie-won, Democratic United Party (DUP) floor leader, Tuesday called for the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and the chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Jung Seung-jo, to take responsibility for the border crossing of a North Korean solider into the South on Oct. 2.
“I require their voluntary resignation. If they don’t resign voluntarily, I urge the President to dismiss them,” Park said during a parliamentary inspection session.
“They didn’t speak honestly about the time they were informed of a North Korean soldier who knocked on the door of the barracks.”
“But they evaded punishment. If there is no appropriate action about this, the DUP will take measures in the National Assembly,” the lawmaker added.
The military has come under criticism for its failure to detect the North Korean soldier going through the heavily armed border until he appeared at the barracks on the eastern border unit.
Defense Minister Kim held a press conference Monday to deliver a formal apology and said 14 commanding generals and senior officers at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the 22nd Infantry Unit, the First Army and the 8th Corps will be punished.
However, the Ministry of National Defense admitted that Minister Kim and Gen. Jung were reported on Oct. 3, a day after the incident.
Following the briefing, Gen. Jung has been embroiled in controversy over his false testimony. He said in the Oct. 3 parliamentary audit that the unit took the soldier safely into custody after capturing him on its closed-circuit television.
However, it was revealed that the CCTV camera was not properly working because of a technical error, so did not record anything on the day.
He subsequently said on the Oct. 11 inspection that he reported the soldier’s knocking on the entrance of unit only on Oct. 10.
Leadership of the military is said to try to conceal the border security failure for nearly 10 days after the first report was made.
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik urged the Defense Ministry to examine the overall guarding and reporting system. He said in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that “Ahead of the presidential election, we need to further strengthen national security.”
However, Chong Wa Dae dismissed the possibility of Gen. Jung’s resignation. “It is not a matter of consideration. Punishments will be limited to the 14 officials,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said.