Military fails to prevent N.K. defector from returning to the North

A North Korean defector living in South Korea returned to the North Wednesday, revealing the loose guard posture of the South Korean navy and maritime police. It is a very serious problem that the military, which guards the front-line island of Yeonpyeong, failed to prevent a North Korean defector from crossing the de facto sea border to return to the North. The North Korean military has announced statements that pose a threat of an imminent war almost every day. At this juncture, it is really disappointing that the South Korean military failed in its watch operations, which are intolerable even under a normal situation.

The South Korean military attributed its failure to the fact that the boat entered a dead angle zone on its radar networks. Such an explanation is just outrageous. The explanation by the military can be understood that it failed to take any measures on the dead angle zones even though it has been aware of it. What would happen if the North sent a spy ship on the same route taken by the fishing boat? A marine guard is said to have believed that the fishing boat was leaving a port to secure a good fishing spot. Maritime police are also responsible for having failed to detect the boat leaving a port at night. Once there are holes in our surveillance systems and guards close their eyes, it is impossible to prevent North Korean agents from infiltrating the South or returning to the North.

Last year, the South Korean military caused concerns among the public due to a series of security failure. A North Korean soldier who crossed the demilitarized zone and knocked on the door of a South Korean military barracks for defection in October last year, which the South Korean military didn`t have the foggiest. A month earlier, the military was not aware that a North Korean defected to the South through a wired fence along the west coast until a resident reported it to the authorities five days later. Military authorities took disciplinary action against two generals and two commissioned officers following the occurrences last year. The latest re-defection case, however, has revealed that there are a number of loopholes in the guard posture.

The South’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told the National Assembly Thursday that the South Korean military would retaliate instantly and strongly in the event of the North’s provocation. No matter how much the minister stresses the importance of water-tight security, it would be useless if rank-and-file soldiers do not follow his instructions. Defense Minister Kim should hasten to re-establish the loose posture of soldiers working in front-line areas.

The re-defector surnamed Lee is known to have escaped North Korea to go to China four times before he settled down in South Korea in 2007. There is a possibility that Lee, who went in and out of the North multiple times, came to the South under the disguise of a defector. South Korean public security authorities should feel a great deal of responsibility for their failure to prevent the re-defection and undergo a drastic overhaul of the loose surveillance networks.