Cheong "Moon Government Made Every Effort for 'Strong Defense Supporting Peace'"

Opposition Strikes Back at 'Defense Weakening' Frame

President Moon Jae-in delivers a commemorative speech at the opening ceremony of the 'Seoul ADEX 2017' International Aerospace and Defense Industry Exhibition held at Seongnam Seoul Airport on the morning of the 17th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Blue House pointed out on the 27th that recent media reports related to the Ukraine crisis could lead to the perception of the Moon Jae-in administration as a "weak government that only verbally called for peace," and stated, "We have made every effort to achieve strong national defense that supports peace."

Park Soo-hyun, the Blue House Chief of Public Communication, posted "The President's Story Not in the Briefing" on Facebook that day, saying, "The Moon Jae-in administration's efforts to strengthen defense capabilities are clearly reflected in the increase of the 'defense capability improvement budget,' which means substantial power enhancement."

Chief Park pointed out that the rate of increase in the defense capability improvement budget of past administrations was 5.8% under the Lee Myung-bak administration, 4.6% under the Park Geun-hye administration, and 7.4% under the Moon Jae-in administration, saying, "The so-called progressive government has a higher rate than the conservative governments, and the Moon Jae-in administration's rate is overwhelmingly higher than previous governments." He added, "'The Democratic Party regime is vulnerable to security' is nothing more than a political attack frame close to fiction." This remark appears to be made with the upcoming presidential election in mind, as the opposition attacks the government with a "security weakening" frame.

Chief Park referred to the test launches of the Long-range Surface-to-Air Missile (L-SAM) and the Long-range Artillery Missile Defense system (LAMD) at the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) Anheung Test Site on the 23rd, emphasizing, "The 'Korean Iron Dome' designed to defend against North Korea's long-range artillery flying below an altitude of 10 km is on a completely different level from Israel's Iron Dome."

He also mentioned the launch of a Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) at the Anheung Test Site on September 15 last year, stating, "Compared to North Korea, which has proudly revealed cold-launching footage claiming it as an SLBM, we quietly showed what we have prepared all at once."

Chief Park also conveyed President Moon's words when he boarded the domestically produced light attack aircraft FA-50 at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) last October. President Moon told his aides who accompanied him, "It is important to show to officials from all over the world that our light attack aircraft is safe and excellent," and added, "If I can make even one more person interested in the FA-50 that the President of the Republic of Korea personally boarded, I would ride it not once but ten times," according to Chief Park.

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