[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Defense Daily Suspended Distribution to 'Woo Byung-woo'

The page where 'Woo Byung-su' was published as 'Woo Byung-woo'. On the 2nd page of the Defense Daily distributed on the 15th, it was correctly written as Woo Byung-su.

[Asia Economy Military Specialist Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] The distribution of the Defense Daily was halted for the first time since its inception. Since its launch in November 1964 under the name "Jeonwoo," this is the first time the military itself has stopped its distribution. The Defense Daily is a daily newspaper of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces published by the Defense Media Agency under the Ministry of National Defense, covering military policies, military movements, and other military-related news for the ideological education of soldiers.

On the 15th, a military official stated, "Since there was a mistake in the name printed in the newspaper scheduled for distribution on the 14th, all copies were discarded, and newly printed newspapers were redistributed on the same day."

The person whose name was incorrectly printed in the Defense Daily is Robert Abrams, the outgoing Commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and Commander of United States Forces Korea. Commander Abrams received the Korean name "Woo Byung-su (禹柄秀)" on the 13th. This took place at a farewell event held by the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation (Chairman Jeong Seung-jo) and the United States Forces Korea Veterans Association (Chairman Vincent Brooks) at the Millennium Hilton Hotel in Seoul.

The surname "Woo (禹)" was derived from the "ㅇ" in Abrams' name, and the clan origin is Pyeongtaek, where the United States Forces Korea headquarters is located. Commander Abrams, who also received an honorary citizenship certificate from Pyeongtaek City, expressed his feelings, saying, "I will proudly take the Korean name Woo Byung-su and the honorary citizenship certificate of Pyeongtaek back to the United States," and "I was glad to become a unique member of the Korea-U.S. alliance."

The Defense Daily planned to publish this story on page 2 of the November 14th issue. However, a typographical error occurred in the article. "Woo Byung-su" was printed as "Woo Byung-woo." This is the exact same name as Woo Byung-woo, the former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs who was indicted for condoning state affairs manipulation during the Park Geun-hye administration and conducting illegal surveillance through the National Intelligence Service. Woo was sentenced to one year in prison in the appellate court, overturning the initial four-year sentence handed down in the first trial in February.

In response, Park Chang-sik, Director of the Defense Media Agency, ordered the destruction of the newspapers printed late on the 14th, and the corrected content was reprinted and redistributed to all military units on the 15th.

A military official said, "The decision to discard the newspapers was made independently by the Defense Media Agency," adding, "The Ministry of National Defense spokesperson's office, which is the command management department, only provided opinions."

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