Won In-cheol, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Convenes Operational Commanders Meeting

On the 6th, Won In-cheol, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared at the National Assembly National Defense Committee's audit of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held at the Joint Chiefs of Staff building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and took the witness oath. Photo by the National Assembly Press Corps

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] On the 6th, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Won In-chul convened an emergency operational commanders meeting for the entire military. This was to share the on-site investigation results from the Combat Readiness Inspection Office regarding the incident in which a defector crossed over the GOP (General Outpost) fence of the frontline unit on the eastern front and defected to North Korea.

At the Ministry of National Defense regular briefing that day, Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Officer Kim Jun-rak explained, "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff plans to diagnose fundamental problems and discuss practical countermeasures to improve the mission performance capabilities of soldiers at the frontline units under the responsibility of the corps commander concerning the situation on the eastern front today."

According to the investigation results from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Combat Readiness Inspection Office, the defector crossed the GOP fence under the jurisdiction of the Army Infantry 22nd Division on the 1st, after which the initial response team misjudged the situation. It was confirmed that the unit missed the defection scenes captured five times by three surveillance cameras. Additionally, the battalion command and control center independently concluded the situation as normal, ignored duty guidelines, and did not report to the battalion commander or higher units.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Won In-chul appeared before the National Assembly's Defense Committee with Defense Minister Seo Wook the previous day and apologized, saying, "As the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff responsible for military readiness and security operations, I sincerely apologize to the public for causing concern."

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