[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Military Information Leaking One After Another... Is This Okay?

Special Forces soldiers reporting their current location and intelligence to the command center in the middle of an enemy's virtual territory.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] There is a growing controversy as claims have emerged that our military authorities have identified an order from the North Korean military high command to "shoot with a 7.62mm rifle." This follows the disclosure of SI (Special Intelligence) reports collected by the military regarding the incident in which a fisheries guidance officer from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Lee Mo (47), who went missing in the West Sea, was killed by gunfire from North Korean forces in North Korean waters.

Moon Hong-sik, Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense, said at a regular briefing that in response to the question, "What is the Ministry of National Defense's position on the content revealed by the People Power Party floor leader?" he stated, "We deeply regret and are concerned about the indiscriminate reporting of our military intelligence information."

Earlier, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly the previous day, saying, "According to our military's special intelligence, the North Korean high command ordered '762.' This refers to the North Korean military's 7.62mm rifle," adding, "There was a clear order to shoot."

To obtain intelligence on North Korea, human intelligence (HUMINT), image intelligence (IMINT), signal intelligence (SIGINT), and technical intelligence (TECHINT, such as satellite reconnaissance) must be utilized. SI (Special Intelligence) is a subset of TECHINT that collects North Korean signal intelligence through interception and monitoring. Through these intelligence assets, high-level information related to North Korea is also gathered, including missile launch preparation trends, trajectory tracking after launches, and the movements and whereabouts of top leadership including Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.

If this information is exposed externally, North Korea can also determine the means by which the intelligence was obtained. Additionally, North Korea reviews the exposed information and changes its intelligence system, making an "intelligence gap" inevitable. This is why criticism and calls for accountability are emerging both inside and outside the military, stating that "the source of the intelligence was fundamentally not protected."

Deputy Spokesperson Moon said on the day, "It does not seem appropriate for the military's sensitive intelligence information to be arbitrarily processed or indiscriminately disclosed," adding, "This not only causes significant disruption to our military's mission execution but also does not help national security at all."

Regarding the factuality of the intelligence content "762 order," he did not comment directly but explained, "The circumstances of the shooting and the burning were not identified in real-time as we would see on CCTV, but rather were conclusions drawn from comprehensive analysis of fragmented intelligence pieces," emphasizing, "I have repeatedly stated that this conclusion was reconstructed after a considerable amount of time had passed, post-event."

On whether legal action would be taken regarding the leak and reporting of the intelligence information, he said, "I think we need to look into the details of that," adding, "When the media provides balanced reporting, readers and the public can understand it without misunderstanding."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.