Did the Ministry of National Defense Just Release Patchwork Data Again?

Lee Rae-jin, the brother of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official killed by North Korean soldiers in September 2020, is making a statement on the 17th regarding the so-called 'West Sea Official Killing Incident' announced the previous day by the Presidential Office and the Coast Guard at the Seoul Bar Association building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Voices are growing louder demanding the disclosure of special intelligence (SI), including intercepted communications between North Korean soldiers, to uncover the truth behind the ‘West Sea Public Official Killing’ incident. Although exposing SI externally could reveal military capabilities, the proposal is to disclose it only to certain officials to clarify the truth.

A member of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee from the People Power Party said, “The report the Ministry of National Defense submitted to the National Assembly in September 2020 was a written report, not audio or video recordings,” adding, “A few lines of text were insufficient to grasp the situation at that time.”

In September 2020, the Ministry of National Defense announced that Mr. Lee, a public official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries who was shot dead by North Korean soldiers in the northern waters near Yeonpyeong Island along the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea, had “defected to the North voluntarily.” They cited special intelligence (SI), including intercepted communications between North Korean soldiers, as decisive evidence.

However, inside and outside the military, there are suspicions that the Ministry of National Defense manipulated the special intelligence to suit the Blue House’s preferences and framed Mr. Lee as a defector. This is because controversies over data manipulation have persisted whenever the Ministry disclosed the accident results to the public.

During the Cheonan ship sinking incident, the Ministry of National Defense wavered on the sinking time for several days. They initially released a 1 minute 20 second edited video from the Thermal Observation Device (TOD). After heavy criticism, the Ministry eventually disclosed the full original TOD footage, about 40 minutes long, filmed at a Marine Corps outpost near Baengnyeongdo in the West Sea. At the time, suspicions arose that only intentionally manipulated footage had been released.

In 2015, a manipulated briefing also sparked controversy. Then-Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo claimed at the Korea-Japan Defense Ministers’ Meeting that since North Korea is constitutionally South Korean territory, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces would need South Korea’s consent to enter North Korean territory. However, Japan effectively rejected this, stating that prior consent from the South Korean government is not necessary when the Japan Self-Defense Forces conduct military operations in North Korea during emergencies.

Despite the controversy, the Ministry of National Defense did not convey the key part of Defense Minister Nakatani Gen’s statement that “the effective control of the Republic of Korea extends only south of the Military Demarcation Line.” Instead, the Ministry focused on explaining the need for trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan regarding Japan’s exercise of collective self-defense in North Korean territory. The Ministry even interpreted Nakatani’s remarks as “not a disagreement with our government but rather widely accepted.” In short, critics pointed out that the briefing concealed the disagreements revealed in the meeting and only presented the ‘cooperation’ part as a ‘manipulated briefing.’

Criticism that the Ministry of National Defense only releases manipulated data whenever human casualties or accidents occur has long existed.

The death of Lieutenant Kim Hoon (then 25, Korea Military Academy Class 52) is a representative case. It was first reported as a ‘pistol suicide.’ The military announced, “Lieutenant Kim shot himself in the head with a pistol and died at the scene; the exact motive for suicide is under investigation.” This rapid announcement came just four hours after the incident. The United Nations Command, which oversees the Joint Security Area (JSA), issued an official statement with a different tone. The UN Command told reporters covering the Ministry of National Defense, “We received a report that an Army officer died and are investigating the exact circumstances by questioning guards and others.”

The military only officially recognized Lieutenant Kim’s death as “an unclassified death while performing duties as a platoon leader” and posthumously honored him in August 2017, 19 years later.

As investigations into military incidents and accidents were inadequate, the government also pointed out problems within military investigative agencies. In 2002, the Presidential Commission on Suspicious Deaths revealed issues with military investigative bodies during its investigation of 25 suspicious military deaths in the 1980s.

The commission stated, “At that time, military investigative agencies such as the Military Police distorted and fabricated the circumstances and scenes of suspicious deaths within the military, and arbitrarily concluded investigations based on non-expert forensic results, indicating significant problems in the investigative process.”

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