President Yoon Seok-yeol speaks at the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism business report held at the Blue House guesthouse on the 5th. Presidential Correspondents
The Office of the President did not give a separate position on the 5th overturning the previous announcement by the Ministry of National Defense that North Korean drones had invaded the no-fly zone (P-73). The Ministry of National Defense had already reported the analysis results to President Yoon Seok-yeol the day before, but the President’s office did not disclose this fact. The military’s incompetence and false explanations have emerged as political issues amid continuing hard-line security-related measures, such as reviewing the suspension of the September 19 military agreement. Controversy is likely to continue over the government’s ability to respond to national security.
The president’s office did not give an official response to the Ministry of National Defense’s overturning of a North Korean drone’s track analysis last month. The military and the Joint Chiefs of Staff initially said that the North Korean drone did not invade the no-fly zone (P-73), which was set at a radius of 3.7 km centered on the Yongsan Presidential Office, but on this day, “it seems to have passed part of the northern end of the no-fly zone.” said. This means that even the core security zone set up for the protection of the military commander-in-chief has been penetrated by North Korean drones.
It is said that President Yoon received a report on this the day before. It seems that the contents were included in reports related to unmanned aerial vehicles such as the National Security Office, the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) the previous morning. After the meeting, the presidential office briefed President Yoon on instructions related to responding to unmanned aerial vehicles on two occasions. The North Korean drone invasion was mainly cited as the basis for President Yoon’s order to review the suspension of the 9/19 military agreement, but the part where the P-73 invasion was confirmed was not mentioned.
An official from the presidential office said in a phone call that day, “I understand that it was reported for the first time at the meeting the previous day.” The important thing is that they crossed the Military Demarcation Line (prior to the invasion of P-73).” Regarding the fact that the announcement the previous day did not include the results of the tracking analysis, this official said, “The president is frequently reported on national operation and security issues, and when and how to announce it varies from case to case.” It is natural for the Ministry of National Defense to announce following tracking and analyzing it.”
Despite the presidential office’s explanation, it seems difficult to avoid criticism that the government’s response was inappropriate. Suspicion of a ‘reduced announcement’ can be raised over the fact that the military authorities’ analysis has changed in 10 days since the North Korean drone’s airspace invasion on the 26th of last month. Even if it took time to accurately analyze the track record, criticism is inevitable for exposing a security loophole that would take a long time in matters directly related to the security of the military commander-in-chief. As loopholes in the military’s response emerged as a major issue in the security situation, the government’s response, which had been focusing on hard-line military measures once morest North Korea, such as “prepared for escalation” and suspension of the 9/19 military agreement, also faced ‘internal difficulties’. The possibility that the theory of responsibility for national security incompetence will spread to the presidential office cannot be ruled out.
The ruling party, while criticizing the military response, criticized the previous government and strengthened the government’s hard-line response stance. In a commentary, Yang Geum-hee, chief spokesman for People’s Power, said, “The situation clearly revealed how insufficient the South Korean military was in training and preparation for North Korea.” We need to strengthen it,” he said.
