"What Is Different from the Sewol Ferry 7 Hours?" Controversy over President Moon's Actions

Cheong convenes extraordinary emergency meeting of related ministers at 1 a.m.
Despite the critical issue, the president was informed after over 7 hours
If it was a misjudgment, 'responsibility of aides' is inevitable
Ahn Cheol-soo criticizes, "How is this different from the Sewol ferry 7 hours?"

President Moon Jae-in attended the Digital New Deal Cultural Content Industry Strategy Report Meeting held on the afternoon of the 24th at Camp One, a private online performance venue in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi Province, and is moving after finishing his speech.

Controversy is spreading over President Moon Jae-in's whereabouts in relation to the shooting and mutilation of the body of North Korean official Mr. A. The key issues are when President Moon was informed and what actions he took afterward.

Since the '7 hours of Sewol ferry' controversy involving former President Park Geun-hye during the previous administration, the actions of the highest authority during national crises have become a matter of public attention. Seemingly aware of this scrutiny, the Blue House on the 24th disclosed detailed information about the incident and President Moon's schedule.

According to the Blue House, after Mr. A's disappearance incident first occurred on the 21st, the first written report was made to the President at 18:36 on the 22nd. The report concerned intelligence that a staff member of the West Sea Fisheries Management Unit had fallen into the sea on the 21st and was being searched for, and that the North had reportedly found the missing person at sea. Since nothing was known about North Korea's atrocities at that time, President Moon reportedly made no special remarks.

Later, at 22:30 on the 22nd, the government obtained more specific intelligence. It was intelligence that the North had shot the missing person, who had expressed intent to defect to the North, and then cremated the body. This intelligence was not immediately reported to President Moon due to doubts about its credibility.

Based on this intelligence, an emergency meeting of related ministers was convened at the Blue House from 01:00 to 02:30 on the 23rd. The National Security Office Director, Chief of Staff, Minister of Unification, Director of the National Intelligence Service, and Minister of National Defense attended to share the situation. A key Blue House official explained, "This meeting discussed the analysis of how credible the intelligence was and countermeasures."

President Moon confirmed the facts of the North's shooting and mutilation at 08:30 on the 23rd, after the meeting ended.

The most critical time regarding President Moon's whereabouts was the 7 hours and 30 minutes between the emergency ministerial meeting at 01:00 and the face-to-face report to the President at 08:30.

The Blue House stated that the intelligence obtained at the time of the ministerial meeting was "not credible intelligence." They explained that since it was judged not to be intelligence, it was not at a level to be reported to the President.

However, convening an emergency ministerial meeting at 1 a.m. is an unusual event. Contrary to the Blue House's explanation, this implies an internal judgment that the intelligence had already approached the level of credible intelligence.

Therefore, attention is focused on whether President Moon was aware of the convening of the ministerial meeting at 1 a.m. If he was unaware, responsibility falls inevitably on the aides.

Despite a major inter-Korean issue occurring, the aides obstructed the President's situational awareness through gatekeeping. Considering the situation, even if President Moon was asleep at 1 a.m., aides should have knocked on his door to report the incident, critics argue.

Contrary to the general assessment that President Moon was unaware of the ministerial meeting, the possibility that he was aware cannot be excluded.

This is because President Moon's UN General Assembly speech began at 01:26 that day. Major world leaders also gave speeches before and after his. It is quite likely that the President was following the UN speech. In this case, the issue shifts from aides' responsibility to 'President Moon's responsibility.' Despite the ministerial meeting being held late at night based on important intelligence, the President underestimated it.

Seo Ju-seok, Secretary General of the National Security Council (NSC) and First Deputy Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House, is holding a briefing on the shooting death of the missing public official from Yeonpyeong Island on the afternoon of the 24th at the Blue House Chunuchu-gwan Grand Briefing Room.

Whichever is the case, the Blue House's misjudgment is expected to have a fatal impact on the administration. The opposition party has been pressuring for President Moon's situation to be disclosed down to the minute and second over the past three days. Kim Jong-in, emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, demanded on the 25th, "President Moon Jae-in must explain what happened from the 21st over the course of three days in minute and second detail."

At a breakfast meeting with metropolitan local government heads from the People Power Party that morning, he said, "Even though the President received reports, he did not issue rescue orders, and the military seemed to just watch for six hours as a father of two children was killed and burned."

Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, also criticized on Facebook that "If the seriousness of the matter was recognized enough to convene an emergency National Security Council meeting at 1 a.m. on the 23rd, the first thing that should have been done was to completely suspend the UN speech containing the message of the 'Declaration of the End of the War.'"

Ahn said, "An enormous incident occurred where a South Korean citizen was killed while our military watched, yet President Moon did not attend the 1 a.m. meeting and only received a report at 8:30 a.m. on the 23rd. How is this different from the 7 hours of Sewol ferry that the President criticized so much?"