Moon's Criticism of 'Boundary Failure'... Blue House Says It Was Meant as an Opportunity to Review Military Systems

The view of Cheongwadae from Namsan, Seoul on the 11th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] President Moon Jae-in on the 5th criticized the military regarding the defector's return to North Korea incident, calling it a "serious issue that should never happen." In response to criticism that the reprimand came four days after the incident, the Blue House stated, "This is an opportunity to use as a chance to inspect the military's surveillance system."

A Blue House official said in response to a reporter's question about "why the reprimand was given several days after the defector's return to North Korea incident," "There was an announcement today from the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding the (on-site investigation results)," explaining this.

On that day, the Joint Chiefs of Staff specifically announced the movement route of defector A at the time of returning to North Korea and the circumstances under which the surveillance was breached. The official explained, "We have been receiving related reports continuously and regularly, and with today's announcement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (on the on-site investigation results), we were able to understand the situation more clearly."

Regarding whether there is an analysis of the cause of the military's surveillance failure, the official replied, "The Joint Chiefs of Staff made a preliminary announcement, and the military will identify the problems of the surveillance posture and surveillance system more in-depth and make efforts to prevent recurrence."

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