[2020 National Audit] National Defense Committee Debates Over Civil Servant Shooting Incident

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] On the 7th, a confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties took place at the National Assembly National Defense Committee’s audit regarding our military’s response to the shooting incident involving the missing public official in the West Sea.

Shin Won-sik, a member of the People Power Party, criticized the Ministry of National Defense during the audit, saying, "The efforts to rescue the missing person were extremely insufficient," and "The president gave no instructions related to the rescue after being briefed." Shin also questioned, "It is difficult to assume the missing person’s intention to defect to the North," and added, "Even if there was such an intention, shouldn’t we have saved a citizen’s life? Would we not rescue someone who climbed onto the Han River bridge to commit suicide?"

Another member of the same party, Kang Dae-sik, pointed out discrepancies between the Ministry of National Defense’s report to the National Assembly and the notification letter issued under the name of North Korea’s United Front Department, calling it "North Korea mocking the Republic of Korea." On the other hand, Kim Byung-gi of the Democratic Party positively evaluated, "The military mobilized all intelligence assets to timely collect and report related intelligence." He added, "Because our military responded and announced in a firm tone, I believe that is why the North sent an apology notification in a short time." Kim Byung-joo, also from the same party, expressed concern about the leakage of SI (Special Intelligence) information such as intercepted communications. He said, "It will become extremely difficult to gather intelligence on North Korea going forward."

This year’s National Defense Committee audit began without general witnesses due to a breakdown in negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties. The People Power Party insists that even now, one or two witnesses related to the military favoritism allegations involving Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae’s son and the West Sea missing public official shooting incident should be selected. They are also demanding to change the scheduled on-site inspection on Baengnyeongdo Island on the 19th to Yeonpyeongdo Island.

Regarding this, Hwang Hee, the Democratic Party’s secretary, stated, "We will discuss the witness selection issue with the opposition party’s secretary by next week." Han Ki-ho, a member of the People Power Party who resigned as secretary, did not attend the audit that day.

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