Moon Jae-in Administration Investigates Joint Chiefs Chairman Over Towing of North Korean Boat

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Park Han-ki and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley are attending the 5th Korea-U.S. Alliance Dinner held on the 14th at the Millennium Hilton in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] It has been reported that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was investigated for towing a North Korean vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea during the Moon Jae-in administration. In particular, it is pointed out that it is unprecedented for the Blue House's Office of Civil Affairs to directly investigate the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is the highest-ranking military officer, regarding a military operation.

According to military officials on the 4th, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Park Han-ki, was summoned to the Blue House's Office of Civil Affairs in early August of that year and investigated in connection with the incident on July 27, 2019, when the military authorities towed a North Korean wooden boat that crossed the NLL and headed south, investigated it, and then repatriated it to North Korea.

Regarding this, there is speculation that the Blue House at the time instructed the military not to tow vessels considering the lack of progress in inter-Korean relations after the so-called 'Hanoi No Deal,' and that the incident occurred because Chairman Park did not comply with this. In particular, it is known that only Chairman Park was investigated even though he reported the incident to then Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo, obtained approval for the towing, and then carried out the operation.

In response, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said that former Chairman Park "has no additional comments" regarding this matter.

On July 27, 2019, at around 10:15 p.m., a 10-meter-long North Korean wooden boat was first detected 5.5 km north of the East Sea NLL, and at around 11:21 p.m., it crossed the NLL. The crew stated that they crossed the NLL due to a navigational error and had no intention to defect, and the military judged that there was no suspicion of anti-state activities at the time.

The government announced that it would repatriate them to North Korea according to the crew's free will, and on July 29, two days later, the wooden boat and three crew members were handed over to North Korea.

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