[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Defense Minister Seo Wook has sparked controversy by officially mentioning the port of call for the Cheonghae Unit. This has been criticized as an inappropriate remark since both inside and outside the military had refrained from mentioning it to prevent exposing the Cheonghae Unit's operational area.
On the 26th, during the National Assembly Defense Committee meeting, Seo Wook explained the situation to Kang Dae-sik, a member of the People Power Party who pointed out the failure of vaccine administration, saying, "We mainly cooperated with Oman, the port of call, but it did not go well."
Considering that the Cheonghae Unit operates in the Gulf of Aden off the east coast of Africa, it is presumed that the port of call Seo mentioned is Muscat Port in Oman on the Arabian Peninsula.
Minister Seo also revealed that the Cheonghae Unit negotiated with Omani authorities for COVID-19 vaccinations but failed to finalize the arrangements.
He stated, "(Oman) did not even allow us to bring vaccines and administer them," adding, "We judged that there were restrictions on administering vaccines locally."
As a result, diplomatic negotiations with the Omani local authorities failed, and the 34th Cheonghae Unit was unable to receive vaccinations, which later led to a large-scale cluster infection during the second operation.
Minister Seo's remarks on this day differ from the previous explanations emphasizing the significant role of diplomatic authorities in this incident. After the incident, the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff reported to the National Assembly that "In the long-distance schedule passing through more than 20 countries, the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was crucial in obtaining overflight approvals within three days," and "Among the 20 countries, four, including the Maldives, were non-resident diplomatic missions, yet timely approvals were obtained."
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