Cheong "The President's Time Is the Time for Managing the Korean Peninsula Crisis"

Kang Min-seok, Cheong Spokesperson, Quotes Mahatma Gandhi: "There is No Path to Peace, Peace Is the Path"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] "When a security situation arises that could be a turning point in whether the Korean Peninsula returns to a confrontation structure or not, the primary concern of the President of the Republic of Korea must inevitably be 'crisis management.'"

Kang Min-seok, the Blue House spokesperson, said this on the 28th in a written briefing regarding the controversy over President Moon Jae-in's response to the shooting death of our public official by the North. Kang explained, "'The President's time' is a time of deliberation for a single resolute decision that must neither be too early nor too late."

In particular, Kang emphasized, "The series of processes in which President Moon Jae-in received reports, expressed official positions, and presided over related meetings concerning the shooting incident of the fisheries guidance officer was precisely a time for crisis management on the Korean Peninsula."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Looking back on the situation at the time, Spokesperson Kang explained that President Moon had no choice but to deliberate for crisis management. Kang said, "Criticism and reports are being made as if it happened right in front of our military, as if it was being observed through a telescope," adding, "The incident occurred in North Korean waters dozens of kilometers away from our sea, a place we could neither see nor enter."

He explained that the military had nothing but fragmented 'intelligence' except for the observation of a flare in the distant North Korean waters by surveillance equipment. Kang said, "When we received intelligence that the North Korean military shot the missing public official and then burned the body to mutilate the corpse, it was obvious that verification came first," adding, "The Blue House has already disclosed in detail what actions were taken in such a situation exactly as they were."

The emergency meeting of related officials held at the Blue House on the 23rd was a process of inferring the facts of the intelligence.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kang said, "The late-night meeting ended at 2:30 a.m., and six hours later, a formal report was made to the President while the facts had not yet been confirmed. The President rechecked the accuracy of the intelligence or information and the credibility of the fact-based assumptions, and if judged to be true, instructed to disclose it to the public as is and to seek necessary procedures from the North."

President Moon emphasized the importance of verification, saying the matter was very serious and whether it could be considered reliable and factual.

Kang said, "Because sufficient fact verification is necessary to transparently disclose to the public while obtaining an apology from the North and a promise to prevent recurrence."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the North sending a notification containing an apology from Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, Kang emphasized that foreign media reported, "It is extremely unusual for the North Korean leader to apologize to the South on a specific issue," and the U.S. State Department spokesperson evaluated it as "a helpful measure."

Kang expressed regret over related domestic media reports and conveyed the words of Ant?nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Guterres urged, "South and North Korea to ease border tensions and return to the spirit of the 2018 Pyongyang Declaration and the inter-Korean military agreement to build trust."

Kang said, "As the President emphasized in his closing remarks at today's Security Council meeting while sending condolences to the bereaved families, the government is deeply sorry for what should never have happened," adding, "But strong security is also, therefore, peace."

Kang concluded the written briefing by quoting Mahatma Gandhi, whom President Moon often cites.

"There is no path to peace. Peace is the path."