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| President Moon Jae-in, flanked by Defense Minister Song Young-moo, left, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo, honors the national flag to begin a meeting with military commanders at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. / Yonhap |
Moon urges swift and thorough investigation into scandal
By Lee Min-hyung
President Moon Jae-in slammed the Defense Security Command (DSC), Friday, for conducting illegal activities under the past administration in his first meeting with all military commanders since his inauguration last year.
Moon reaffirmed that he will reform the military intelligence unit, vowing to uncover the truth behind a contingency plan the military set up last year to quell protesters by imposing martial law.
Some 180 high-ranking military officers and commanders participated in the meeting at Cheong Wa Dae. They included Defense Minister Song Young-moo, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo and heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
This is the first time Moon has held such a meeting since taking office in May last year.
Moon has discussed measures to prevent the recurrence of the latest military controversy, but the presidential house did not unveil any details. The President has in recent weeks expressed deep regret over a document specifying plans for the military to declare martial law and carry out an armed crackdown on protesters if the Constitutional Court rejected the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.
"The nation's armed forces have been mired in a series of scandals," Moon said during the meeting. "The military should carry out reforms by keeping in mind this is the last chance the public will give it."
Moon also called on the ranking officials to come up with specific reform measures for the scandal-tainted Defense Security Command, which is under investigation for drawing up the 67-page-long military document.
"The DCS's contingency plan for martial law, in itself, is outdated, illegal and deviant behavior," Moon said. "The military intelligence unit should be committed to fulfilling its duty and contributing to enhancing national defense."
The meeting came a day after Moon called on a special military investigation team to conduct a thorough probe into why the document was written and who is responsible for it.
He said the need for drastic reform of the DSC has been more evident in the wake of the latest scandal, urging his staff to submit a series of agendas to push ahead with the drive.
The presidential office is in a position to take appropriate measures against all those involved in the scandal, including the embattled defense chief.
During the meeting, Moon also urged the military leaders to put top priority on carrying out the so-called Defense Reform 2.0 drive which outlines a series of reform plans to streamline and boost the efficiency of the military.
Moon went on to underline the need to continue reforming the military despite the ongoing peace momentum on the Korean Peninsula.
"Inter-Korean relations are on track to improve and the two Koreas are working on denuclearizing the peninsula," Moon said. "But the future still remains unclear, so we need to remain more flexible and responsive to the circumstances of security."
During the meeting with the President, Song provided an update on the latest version of the reform drive. Of note was the military's restructuring plan to allow the JCS chairman to take on a dual role as chief of the JCS as well as the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
