Report to National Assembly One Month After Drone Incident... "Overall Negligence"

JCS Censorship Office: "Deficiencies in Military Information Transmission and Sharing System"

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The National Assembly's National Defense Committee will hold a plenary meeting at 10 a.m. on the 26th to receive a briefing from the military authorities regarding the incident of a North Korean drone's intrusion into South Korean airspace. It has been one month since the incident occurred.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Ministry of National Defense on that day, the meeting will be attended by Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Seung-gyeom, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Operations Headquarters Chief Kang Shin-cheol, among other military leaders. They are expected to report the results of their analysis of the overall situation, including the military's operational execution, situation dissemination, force deployment, and training at the time of the North Korean drone's airspace violation.

The day before, the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Combat Readiness Inspection Office provided a preliminary explanation to the National Assembly on the "Inspection Results Related to North Korean Small Drone Provocation Response," reporting that the military's information dissemination and sharing systems for drone response did not function properly.

Specifically, the high-speed command network, an emergency communication system that immediately relays information to commanders of units at all levels in the front and rear, and the "Military Integrated Information Processing System (MIMS)," which analyzes North Korean provocation information in real time to respond, did not operate. As a result, the air defense unit under the Army's 1st Corps was informed of the drone intrusion nearly 40 minutes later through a regular landline phone to other units.

The National Defense Committee of the National Assembly reportedly concluded that commanders such as the 1st Corps Commander and the Ground Operations Commander among the high-ranking generals bear command responsibility. However, the military is cautious about disciplining the commanders. They argue that disciplining commanders could immediately destabilize the military command structure and ultimately play into North Korea's intentions.

An opposition party official said, "Considering the time taken from the military leadership's awareness of the situation to reporting to President Yoon, it is suspicious whether a 'belated operation' was conducted," adding, "We will thoroughly question this during the National Defense Committee's current affairs briefing."