[Editorial] Internal battle over the drone infiltration

The government must thoroughly review our porous aerial defense system before it is too late.

After the infiltration of North Korean drones into our air space over Seoul on Dec. 26, the government, military and politicians must concentrate on finding the reasons for our lethargic response and devising effective ways to prevent it. Regrettably, however, the People Power Party (PPP) and the Democratic Party (DP) are stuck in a political mud fight after a PPP lawmaker raised the possibility of a DP lawmaker staying in touch with North Korea.

The essence of the drone raid is clear: North Korea violated the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement in 2018, but our military could not shoot it down even with fighter jets and attack helicopters. President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered a consideration of suspending the military agreement, and the military announced a plan to train our military to cope with future drone incursions by the North and acquire cutting-edge equipment to shoot down its unmanned aerial vehicles.

But the problem is the ongoing internal battle after Rep. Kim Byung-joo, a four-star general-turned lawmaker of the DP, raised the possibility of a North Korean drone sneaking into a flight ban zone over the presidential office after he was briefed about the flights by the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the National Assembly on Dec. 28. Until then, the military denied it. But nearly 10 days after the infiltration of a drone into the sensitive P-73 zone, the issue has evolved into a political battle.

On Jan. 6, the presidential office shifted the focus of the incident to who really leaked the drone infiltration information to Rep. Kim. In response, Rep. Shin Won-sik — a three-star general-turned lawmaker of the PPP and former head of the Capital Defense Command — said he could not shake off the “reasonable doubt that Rep. Kim may have communicated with North Korea” given the details of his claim.

In reaction, Rep. Kim denounced the presidential office for its “incompetence and ignorance,” as “anyone can easily infer the infiltration based on a 30-minute flight tracking.” Rep. Shin immediately counterattacked by saying, “It’s lamentable for the DP to denigrate the integrity of our military.”

The farcical development did not end there. It has been found that the Joint Chiefs of Staff first detected the drones at 10:19 a.m., Dec. 26, six minutes after the real infiltration. Moreover, after being told about them by the First Army Corps on the frontline, the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not inform the Capital Defense Command of the infiltration for a while. As a result, the Capital Defense Command could not immediately respond to the drone penetration into the P-73 zone. And yet, our political circles are still fighting with one another. The government must thoroughly review our porous aerial defense system before it is too late.