[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Won In-chul, the nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to criticism about going to a golf course during a serious time of North Korean provocations by stating, "I was not aware of the situation at the time."
On the day of Won's confirmation hearing, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, raised this suspicion. Ha pointed out that Won visited golf courses four times during his tenure as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army in 2016 and twice last year while serving as Air Force Chief of Staff, around emergency situations. It was confirmed that in October 2016, Won went to the Gyeryongdae golf course on the same day North Korea launched a Musudan missile.
In response, Won admitted to the related facts but said, "North Korea launched a missile in October 2016, but it failed," adding, "Our detection ships did not detect it." He explained, "The fact of North Korea's missile launch was communicated to subordinate units the next day," and "At that time, I was not aware of the situation."
Regarding the criticism that he visited the golf course the day after the North Korean missile launch, Won said, "After the readiness posture ended on the day of the missile launch, we evaluated the operational situation and did not restrict subsequent related activities." When Ha criticized again, saying, "Playing golf the very next day is unacceptable by public common sense," Won replied, "I will keep that in mind."
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