Investigation of Swimming Defection: "Spotted 10 Times but Missed 8 Times"

General Park Jung-hwan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the National Defense Committee plenary session at the National Assembly on the 17th and reported on the situation of the defector from the 22nd Division. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Regarding the recent incident in which a North Korean man swam across the East Sea for 6 hours to defect to the South, it has been revealed that this man was detected 10 times by our military equipment, but the situation room officers and video surveillance soldiers failed to identify him 8 times.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the 23rd, the unidentified person who crossed from North Korea by swimming was captured 5 times on four coastal surveillance cameras from 1:05 a.m. to around 1:38 a.m. on the 16th. At that time, the situation monitor sounded warning alerts twice, but the soldiers in the situation room did not notice. This is the result of the military authorities' investigation into the ‘swimming defection’ incident in Goseong, Gangwon Province.

Additionally, the unidentified person was captured 3 times on the Joint Operations Support Center fence surveillance CCTV from 4:12 a.m. to 4:14 a.m., and twice on the Civilian Control Line outpost CCTV from 4:16 a.m. to 4:18 a.m. At that time, the military detected the unidentified person and reported to higher authorities. The Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged after on-site inspection that "the situation officers and video surveillance soldiers failed to comply with mission execution procedures and thus could not identify the unidentified person," and admitted that "despite instructions to inspect sluices and drainage channels following the Ganghwa Island defection incident, management was inadequate." In particular, they added, "Although the unidentified person was first discovered at the Jejin Civilian Control Line outpost, the operation was insufficient as the situation response manual was not followed." The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "It is estimated that the unidentified person swam for 6 hours to cross over, but the exact route and swimming time are still under investigation," and did not dismiss the controversy surrounding the series of defection processes.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense is promoting a plan to transfer coastal surveillance duties to the Korea Coast Guard, which has sparked controversy. The Army conducted a trial transfer of surveillance duties in the Buan area of Jeonbuk Province in 2014. The results showed that coastal surveillance requires about 8,600 personnel from the 35th Division, but the Coast Guard has only about 50 personnel. This indicates that manpower and equipment are still far insufficient to transfer the mission to the Coast Guard, raising concerns about the recurrence of incidents like the recent ‘swimming defection.’

In response to criticisms about the Coast Guard’s lack of surveillance capability, the military is also considering a compromise plan to transfer duties only from Dangjin on the West Coast to Uljin on the East Coast. However, if defection or infiltration incidents occur in rear areas, disputes over responsibility between the military and the Coast Guard are also anticipated.

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