Candidate Shin Won-sik: "Awarding General Hong Beom-do a Military Academy Diploma Is Wrong"

"The Establishment of the Bust Is Not the Consensus of the Korea Military Academy but President Moon's Will"

Shin Won-sik, the nominee for Minister of National Defense, stated, "I believe it was wrong to award General Hong an (honorary) diploma at the Korea Military Academy."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the parliamentary confirmation hearing on the 27th, nominee Shin said, "I respect and believe General Hong Beom-do's career as an independence fighter should be honored. It is fine to issue certificates recognizing independence fighters, but I think it was wrong to award General Hong an (honorary) diploma at the Korea Military Academy, which defended the country by fighting against North Korean communism." He added, "The bust inside the Korea Military Academy was not a reflection of the academy's collective will but was done under the directive of then-President Moon Jae-in."

In response to Democratic Party lawmaker Seol Hoon's remark that the nominee said he could not cooperate with pro-North Korean and Juche factions, Shin rebutted, "I am not linking the Democratic Party to pro-North Korean Juche factions." However, nominee Shin acknowledged, "It is true that pro-North Korean Juche factions still exist in our society," adding, "There are clearly groups that follow the Kim Jong-un regime or advocate for anti-American, anti-fascist federal unification."

Regarding the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement, he said, "If I become minister, I will do my best to suspend its effectiveness, even if I cannot completely abolish it."

In response to People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Jae-ok's question about the side effects of the September 19 military agreement, Shin said, "The establishment of a no-fly zone limits precision strikes." He continued, "The distance from the armistice line to Pyongyang is about 140 to 150 km, but only about 40 km to Seoul, where 50% of the population is concentrated in the metropolitan area. Our conventional forces are quantitatively insufficient, and we maintain military balance through qualitatively superior forces. The no-fly zone should be normalized as soon as possible."

Regarding the suggestion by People Power Party lawmaker Han Ki-ho, chairman of the National Defense Committee, that the Civilian Control Line (CCL) needs to be reset, Shin responded, "The CCL should move northward as much as possible," adding, "As long as there are appropriate detection means, controlling civilians causes inconvenience to the public and increases unnecessary control demands for the military."

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