[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Three Issues in Military and Police Boundaries Seen Through the Vietnam War

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The North Korean man apprehended in the early morning of the 16th is believed to have defected by sea and moved inland through a drainage channel on the beach. Military authorities are facing criticism for repeated failures in coastal surveillance, as a similar defection through a drainage channel was missed last year on Ganghwa Island.

On the 17th, the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "The North Korean man wore a wetsuit and flippers and came ashore near the Unification Observatory by sea. It is presumed that he passed through a drainage channel installed under the coastal fence."

In an explanation the previous day, the military said they spotted the man around 4:20 a.m. on CCTV at the Jejin checkpoint. However, a detailed investigation revealed that the man was detected multiple times by military surveillance equipment after coming ashore. In other words, although the man was exposed to surveillance equipment while moving several kilometers inland to the Jejin checkpoint, the military failed to recognize this at all.

In June 2019, five days after the "Samcheok Port Knock Defection" incident where a North Korean fishing boat docked at the pier under the jurisdiction of the 23rd Division, then Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo issued an apology and pledged to strengthen alertness. Notably, the unit where this recent incident occurred had previously experienced a "Fence Defection" by a North Korean man in November last year and the so-called "Knock Defection" in October 2012, when a North Korean soldier knocked on a military post door to express his intention to defect. Despite repeated criticisms of lax coastal surveillance, improvements have not been made.

After the case of Kim (24), who defected through a drainage channel on Ganghwa Island in July last year, the military announced plans to strengthen coastal drainage channel blocking facilities. However, problems with managing drainage channels on the East Coast remain evident. When asked whether the blocking facilities at the drainage channel in question were installed after July last year, a military official only responded, "We are investigating the exact circumstances."

The search operation also appears inadequate. The military secured the North Korean man's custody at 7:30 a.m. It took more than three hours from recognizing the unidentified man on the Jejin checkpoint CCTV to securing him. The man was found on a mountainside less than 500 meters from the Jejin checkpoint. At the time of discovery, he was reportedly squatting in a state of exhaustion.

If it took three hours to find a man who declared his intention to defect near the checkpoint, there are concerns that it would take even longer to search if the intruder were a North Korean soldier infiltrating southward for a mission.

Previously, in November last year, a North Korean man who crossed the frontline fence was found by a mobile search team 14 hours and 30 minutes later, raising questions about initial response issues. At that time, the man had moved 1.5 km south from the GOP fence.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff's Combat Readiness Inspection Office plans to conduct an investigation starting today in cooperation with the Ground Operations Command to determine whether there were any problems with the unit's alertness. With the coastal surveillance and monitoring network revealed to have been breached, a large-scale disciplinary action against the battalion commander and others in the unit is expected.