How can countersigns be traded for money?

The military must reinforce training on officers and toughen their discipline.

Ranking military officers are being questioned by the prosecution for compromising countersigns — “confidential secrets” in the military — as collateral to take out shark loans. The military police turned the case over to the Jeonju District Prosecutors’ Office. Multiple officers of senior ranks in an army division based in Chungcheong are accused of offering to hand over countersigns while they were borrowing money from loan sharks to invest in cryptocurrencies early this year. The accused include acting or retired officers and private lenders. The case could be linked to organized crime groups.

A countersign refers to a military secret signal that must be given by one wishing to pass. It takes the form of a word, signal or procedure which is handed down from the command to assist guards and sentinels in identifying individuals authorized to pass through the lines during war. Countersigns serve as the secret passwords and are regularly amended.

The code of countersigns is rigorously repeated during military training. They cannot be spoken over the phone. It is shocking to learn that military officers trade them for personal gain. The act is a serious threat to the military guard and national security.

The fact that those servicemen chose to jeopardize public safety raises serious questions about the state of discipline in our military. Authorities must thoroughly investigate the case and set a sober example through the highest legal application. The military must take strong actions to prevent the mishap from happening again.

Our military has been implicated in a series of mortifying incidents. A civilian officer of the Korea Defense Intelligence Command (KDIC) dared to jeopardize the spying network on North Korea by selling information on overseas undercover agents to a Chinese broker. That’s not all. There was an internal feud with a brigadier general and his commander suing one another over leaking military secrets. A military unit even came under scrutiny for binge drinking during a joint military exercise with the U.S. military. The demoralization in our armed forces at a time of escalated North Korean nuclear and missile threats and persistent dispatches of trash balloons to South Korea is alarmingly worrisome.

Our military parrots the promise of reinforcing its discipline at every shameful event, but it continues having sad episodes. The military must reinforce training on officers and toughen their discipline. The promotion process in the military also must become thorough and fair to improve the standards of the command. Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who took office after such controversies arose, will be closely watched on what reform steps he will take.