Civil Group Files Complaint Against Military Human Rights Center Director... 'Yoon's Private Jet Takeoff Military Secret Leak'

Violation of Military Secrets Protection Act and Defamation Charges

Im Tae-hoon, director of the Military Human Rights Center, who claimed that Air Force One, the presidential aircraft, took off from Seoul Airport without a flight plan notification, has been reported for violating the Military Secrets Protection Act and other charges.

On the 16th, the civic group Committee for the Protection of the Common People’s Livelihood (Seominwi) filed a complaint against Director Im with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for violating the Military Secrets Protection Act and defamation.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, attending the Brazil G20 Summit, is greeting before boarding Air Force One, his exclusive aircraft, at the 2nd Air Force Base in Lima, Peru. Photo by Yonhap News

Seominwi criticized the Military Human Rights Center for revealing on the 10th that the presidential aircraft took off from Seoul Airport, stating, "Disclosing highly confidential information regarding the operation of Air Force One, the presidential aircraft, constitutes a violation of the Military Secrets Protection Act."

Seominwi added, "Leaking military secrets can deal a fatal blow to national security," and warned, "Such actions may cause social unrest and increase distrust toward the Air Force."

Seominwi also reported to the police a staff member of the 15th Special Mission Flight Group commander and Air Force Brigadier General Lee (surname anonymized) for failing to properly manage information related to the operation of Air Force One. Seominwi explained the reason for the complaint against Brigadier General Lee, stating, "Given that highly confidential information about Air Force One was leaked to the public, it appears there was negligence in supervision," and that "the severity of the misconduct corresponds to serious dereliction of duty."

Earlier, the Military Human Rights Center announced at an emergency press conference on the 10th that it had confirmed the presidential aircraft took off from Seoul Airport. The center claimed, "Before takeoff, the aircraft is maintained by the 35th Flight Squadron and the flight plan is notified to the air traffic control tower, but on this day, there was no maintenance and no flight plan notification before takeoff."

Additionally, at the beginning of the press conference, the center stated, "It has not been confirmed whether the president or other passengers were on board," but soon after clarified, "President Yoon Suk-yeol was not on the presidential aircraft."

In response, the Air Force explained that it was a regular flight for performance inspection.