hankyoreh

It has come to light that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Lee Sang-eui was severely intoxicated on the evening of the Cheonan’s sinking. This revelation has raised serious doubts about the military’s crisis response posture and discipline, and naturally demands a thorough investigation and disclosure of the facts, as well as a stern reprimand.


According to military sources, Lee arrived at the Ministry of National Defense command control room at around 10:42 p.m. that evening heavily intoxicated after drinking about ten glasses of alcohol, including boilermakers, and after attending a meeting presided over by the Defense Minister for about ten minutes, he essentially abandoned his duties and fell asleep. He also reportedly embellished documents later in order to make it seem that he commanded the situation properly after clearing the command control room. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises operational command over the entire military. It is chilling even to imagine a person in this position abandoning his command control functions for a considerable length of time during a crisis situation because he was too inebriated. Such an occurrence can create a void in the operational posture of the entire armed forces.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) is said to have given a report on this situation to President Lee Myung-bak. But while it did make reference to Lee Sang-eui’s “personal responsibility” in its announcement two days ago, BAI declined to make any specific reference to what this entailed. And despite the gravity of the error by Lee and other members of the military command, disciplinary measures were requested according to the Armed Forces Personnel Act rather than the Military Penal Code.

This tepid response is a clear attempt to go easy on figures in the military command. The Military Penal Code prescribes punishments for things like negligence in military affairs and falsified orders, notifications and reports. BAI should immediately disclose additional details about the individual actions of Lee and the other members of the military command and deliver a stern reprimand, including application of the Military Penal Code. The Joints of Staff are claiming that while Lee did drink, he maintained his command functions, but this is hard to believe. It is exceedingly dangerous for a Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman to make any decisions in the mental state of someone who has consumed ten boilermakers.

In spite of this, the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) is reportedly advocating for retaining Kim Tae-young as Defense Minister. Minister Kim reportedly earned President Lee’s confidence by doing such a good job with his follow-up response to the Cheonan sinking. This is utterly absurd. The Defense Minister should be dismissed for his responsibility in the military being shaken to such an extent.

Another problem lies in how the president and Cheong Wa Dae revealed the weaknesses in their own ability to control the military. In the immediate wake of the incident, President Lee handled the situation personally, holding four separate meetings in a bunker at the Cheong Wa Dae. But the result of this was a lot of scurrying about based on false information fabricated by the military command, before culminating in a false announcement to the people of South Korea that the response was well handled. This is why President Lee must apologize as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]