Korea's military chief under siege for serious border security loopholes has decided to cancel his planned trip to the United States for annual defense talks, officials said Thursday.
Gen. Jung Seung-jo, the chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), will instead be involved in the crucial defense talks slated for next week in Washington via a video conference at his office in Seoul in a rare move in the history of the bilateral military talks, the JCS said.
Jung had initially planned to visit Washington to jointly preside over the Military Committee Meeting (MCM) with his American counterpart Gen. Martin Dempsey, which is slated for Oct. 23.
The senior-level military meeting will be held ahead of the South Korea-U.S. defense ministerial meeting on Oct. 24, which is expected to coordinate policy on North Korea and draft follow-up measures for a revised bilateral missile pact that extended Seoul's missile range.
Instead of a trip to the U.S., Jung will concentrate on handling border security issues after a North Korean solider crossed the heavily fortified border earlier this month undetected.
"The two sides agreed that Jung will participate in the meeting here through a video conference system," JCS spokesman Lee Boong-woo said. "The decision was made because (the JCS chairman) thought it is very important to maintain joint combat posture of the Army, Navy and Air Force to cope with situations related to the North Korean soldier's defection."
Other senior officials at the JCS will visit Washington as planned, Lee added.
It is the first time that a JCS chairman will not attend the defense talks since it was first held in 1978 to bolster defense cooperation between the two allies.
During the video conference, the two sides will review the security situations in the Asia Pacific Region and reaffirm a strong joint defense posture for stability in the region. The results of the meeting will be reflected in the Security Consultative Meeting, scheduled on Oct. 24, the JCS said.
The four-star general has been in an embarrassing situation since he mistakenly told lawmakers during parliamentary sessions that a North Korean soldier who crossed the land border for defection was captured by Korean soldiers in a front-line unit after he was detected by a surveillance camera on Oct. 2.
Jung, however, later faced perjury charges raised by opposition lawmakers, as it was later revealed that the South Korean guards were unaware of the defector until he arrived at their barracks building and knocked on the door and the surveillance camera was not recording at the time. The defense ministry said Jung made the remarks based on incorrect reporting by his subordinate. (Yonhap)