Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over SI Disclosure at Army National Assembly Audit

Ruling Party: "Sufficient Evidence for Defection to North Korea... Will Organize and Disclose Records"
Opposition Party: "Contains Level 2 Secrets and May Affect Investigation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] At the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee’s audit of the Army Headquarters, a heated debate unfolded over whether to disclose the Special Intelligence (SI) collected by the military regarding the ‘West Sea Civilian Casualty Incident.’ Notably, even lawmakers with military backgrounds raised their voices in disagreement.

During the audit held on the 20th at Gyeryongdae, Chungnam Province, concerning the case in which the prosecution requested an arrest warrant for former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook in relation to the West Sea civilian incident,

the first to open fire at the National Assembly National Defense Committee’s audit of the Army Headquarters on the 20th was Democratic Party lawmaker Seol Hoon.

Lawmaker Seol stated, “There are reasons that inevitably led to the presumption of defection to the North (two years ago), and if all records are organized and presented to the public, it will naturally become clear who is lying and deceiving.” He also referred to the recent Board of Audit and Inspection report revealing that the late civilian victim Lee Dae-jun was wearing a life jacket and had bandages, arguing, “If it is true that he actually had a life jacket and was bandaged, this is a clear case of defection to the North.”

Calls for SI disclosure continued. Fellow party member Jung Sung-ho said, “The human rights of the civilian victim (Lee Dae-jun) are important, and so are the human rights of Minister Seo Wook,” adding, “Without revealing the SI, the truth cannot be uncovered. Should a Minister of National Defense who devoted his life be vaguely arrested?”

Lawmaker Kim Young-bae also argued, “The charges against Minister Seo Wook include abuse of authority and falsification of official documents, and the core of these charges is the SI content,” emphasizing, “The public needs to know this to verify it.”

In response, opposition lawmakers pushed back.

Lawmaker Han Ki-ho said, “Looking back, the Ministry of National Defense did not report only the truth during Minister Seo’s tenure,” adding, “The meetings were held confidentially at the time, so to disclose them now requires a new resolution, and they also include level 2 secrets.”

Lawmaker Lim Byung-heon argued, “Disclosing non-public meeting minutes related to ongoing investigations could interfere with the investigation,” and stressed, “This is unrelated to the National Defense Committee’s audit, so the audit should not proceed abnormally.”

Tensions also continued among lawmakers with military backgrounds.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-joo, a retired general from the 40th class of the Korea Military Academy, said, “The only thing that has changed in the past two years is the administration, so how can National Defense Committee members claim that former Minister Seo Wook fabricated things?” He questioned, “Is it human decency to push someone who worked with you in the past into a corner?”

Lieutenant General Han Ki-ho, a 9-year senior of Kim from the Military Academy, raised his voice toward Kim, saying, “When I was a corps commander, weren’t you a regimental commander? Is it appropriate for you to show this attitude toward me in front of juniors?” and added, “You won’t be a member of the National Assembly forever.”

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