[Column] Back to the basics on national security

[한겨레] By Song Min-soon, National Assembly Lawmaker, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade

North Korea must take full responsibility for its outrageous indiscriminate artillery attack against civilians and military alike. North Korea is not a rational organization in any sense, and simply expecting something rational to come out of it is nothing more than a reckless waste of time. It is time now to look comprehensively at peace and national security postures on the Korean Peninsula.

All four pillars sustaining the Republic of Korea's security are showing cracks.

First, it is failing at the mutual threat reduction, the key element in national security. Antagonism between North Korea and South Korea has reached its apex since the armistice that ended the Korean War. Naturally, primary responsibility for this lies with North Korea. But the campaign to hold North Korea accountable does not guarantee our security.

Second, our national defense posture has actually weakened relative to the increased threat. Having fallen off the government's list of priorities, military expenditures has been relatively reduced, and military morale has diminished as the Army, Navy, and Air Force have focused their attentions on getting their share of the budget. They face criticism every time a clash occurs, but no one ever takes responsibility for the incompetent response.

Third, conflict rather than solidarity is being fomented among the people of South Korea. When an incident occurs, the focus is on distinguishing between current and past administrations and looking for excuses to blame others, rather than finding any kind of solution. A growing number of people simply do not believe what the administration says.

Fourth, our friendly relations with surrounding nations are falling apart. With China, which holds influence over North Korea, we are currently racing at full bore toward our worst relations in history, clashing head on over the issues of inter-Korean relations and the six-party talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

The Cheonan's sinking already showed the country's national security incompetence, and the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island merely confirmed this once again.

Prior to the shelling, North Korea sent a message in which it called for a suspension to the South Korean military's exercises and threatened "physical retaliation measures." This does not mean we should not have held the exercises. But we should also have taken into account the fact that North Korean has persistently made the area around the island the subject of dispute, insisting that this area belongs to its own territorial waters.

Before the exercises, we should have taken precautionary measures for civilian evacuation, warned of our own powerful measures to deter North Korea from any provocation, and established a posture to support this. Instead, the Defense Ministry adopted a casual approach, apparently believing North Korea would not dare fire its naval artillery. Is that what it learned from the Cheonan incident?

The South Korean military also chose to return fire with K-9 artillery. This weaponry has no precision strike capabilities. It is unlikely to incapacitate a North Korean artillery corps hidden behind a rock wall.

Individuals with foresight who knew about this military situation suggested positioning precision-guided munitions (PGMs) to preemptively deter North Korean naval artillery fire, but this suggestion was not taken up. There was merely a lot of bluster without establishing the necessary capabilities.

President Lee Myung-bak publicly declared a "manifold retaliation." But he backed off quietly under North Korean threats following his declarations of loudspeaker broadcasts and flyer distribution after the Cheonan's sinking. This is not to say that such incidental measures should be taken, but there are few who believe there is much the South Korean government can realistically do.

North Korea engaged in this provocation after a careful consideration of the limitations on the retaliatory measures available to the South Korean government. If our government resolves to escalate matters and proceed into a wartime situation, it needs to upgrade the defense readiness alert (DEFCON) to level 3 or higher and hand over command authority for the South Korean armed forces to the Commander of U.S. Forces Korea, who is also commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command. However, the already war-weary U.S. is not in a situation where it can sink into the quagmire of yet another conflict.

Nor is national security heightened just because an aircraft carrier group enters the West Sea. The United States simply made a relatively simple gesture without any other options available.

Does the president plan to fulfill his responsibility by standing before the remains of the deceased once again and showing his tears to the people of South Korea? What the people want is not his tears, but his fulfillment of the Constitutional duty to protect the nation. Where is that faith now?

Let us go back to the basics of national security: reducing mutual intimidation, establishing a defense posture, unifying public opinion, and stepping up cooperation with surrounding countries.

An ounce of prevention is said to be better than a pound of cure. Before it races toward an even greater catastrophe, I urge the Lee government to make changes in its security policy.

세상을 보는 정직한 눈 <한겨레> [ 한겨레신문 구독| 한겨레21 구독]

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