Moon to speed up defense reform

Kim Kwan-jin, Han Min-koo in hot seat

By Jun Ji-hye

The defense ministry’s bungled handling of the controversial deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is leading to calls for its reform and an investigation of the previous security team.

Cheong Wa Dae confirmed Wednesday that the ministry had “intentionally” omitted the arrival of four additional THAAD launchers here in recent briefings to the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee as well as to President Moon Jae-in’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong.

High-ranking defense officials of the former Park Geun-hye government, including Defense Minister Han Min-koo who is still in office, has been criticized for rushing to deploy the anti-missile system and keeping many of the decision-making processes secret.

Since he was a presidential candidate, Moon has slammed the Park government for failing to build public consensus on the crucial security decision, calling on the issue to be discussed again by the new government.

Moon’s order for a thorough inspection into the omission of reporting means that the new government will check the whole deployment process again and investigate Park’s security lineup including Minister Han and former National Security Office (NSO) chief Kim Kwan-jin.

Cheong Wa Dae is currently focusing on questioning several ministry officials related to the omission, including the deputy minister for policy, but the investigation is highly likely to be expanded to higher-level officials to find out who led or ordered the omission, and whether there was outside pressure.

Rep. Kim Jong-dae of the progressive Justice Party claimed, “The former government secretly attempted to deploy THAAD and never told the public the truth.”

The lawmaker also said, “Kim Kwan-jin’s office never disclosed material related to THAAD such as the minutes,” noting that Kim’s successor Chung Eui-yong was handed no information on THAAD.

The possibility of legal action cannot be ruled out if any irregularities by Park’s security lineup during the deployment process are discovered.

Moon’s order for the inspection is also expected to advance the implementation of his pledges to reform defense such as restructuring the military’s top command structure, enhancing the arms acquisition process, upgrading key weapons systems and boosting the morale of the nation’s 625,000 troops.

As part of defense reform measures, Moon is expected to move to appoint four-star generals regardless of their background and tap high-ranking ministry officials among civilians.

Some observers say Moon’s order for the investigation of the THAAD deployment decision-making process is aimed at cleaning up old evils of the former government as it was understood by many that Moon’s recent order for a state audit of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project carried out under the Lee Myung-bak administration is apparently aimed at Lee and his aides.

Regarding the incident, Minister Han refused to speak about the details, citing the ongoing investigation. But he said the presidential office and the ministry may have had different points of view, and this may have caused misunderstanding. Han also stressed, “I did not order the omission in the report.”

A THAAD battery consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors (eight per launcher), a fire control and communications unit and an AN/TPY-2 radar.

Two launchers and the radar were deployed by the U.S. military before Moon’s election earlier this month. Moon criticized this hasty deployment during his campaign.