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Defense Minister Song Young-moo receives a memo from an aide as he gives a report on the North’s recent missile launch and related issues at meeting of the National Assembly Defense Committee on Sept. 18. (Lee Jung-woo

Minister of Defense Song Young-moo lambasted Yonsei University distinguished professor emeritus and special presidential advisor Moon Chung-in as “deplorable” and someone “you don’t want to engage with” who “runs off at the mouth from an academic’s standpoint.”

Song’s harsh denunciation comes after Moon, who is serving as President Moon Jae-in’s special aide on unification, foreign affairs, and security, criticized Song’s reference to a possible “decapitation strike” against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “inappropriate.” Song’s remarks came after Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Chung Jin-suk asked him for a response to Moon Chung-in’s recent comments following a Sept. 18 report on a recent North Korean missile launch at a National Assembly Defense Committee plenary session.

In a previous Sept. 4 appearance before the committee, Song said a “decapitation strike against Kim Jong-un would be possible as soon as this December.” Responding to the remarks, Moon asked in a Sept. 15 press interview whether South Korea “would just sit there and do nothing if [North Korea] said it was going to carry out a decapitation strike against our President.”

“You need to use refined language and terminology. I think the Minister of Defense’s wording was rather inappropriate,” Moon said at the time.

During the Sept. 18 committee session, Chung asked Song why he did not “react to [Moon] saying these outrageous things.”

“Do you feel uncomfortable about it because he’s a special advisor to the President? Was it inappropriate for you to use the term ‘decapitation strike’?” Chung asked. Song replied, “I don’t think it was inappropriate.” Song went on to say he had “seen [Moon] a few times before I joined the Cabinet, but he’s such a freewheeling character that in terms of security and defense issues, I said, ‘Oh, you don’t want to engage with him, just leave him alone.’”

“He’s running off at the mouth from an academic’s standpoint in a way that isn’t suited to a special aide on security or policy. It’s deplorable,” Song said. With his comments, Song actively went along with an opposition lawmaker’s line of questioning designed to play up dissention among the Moon administration’s foreign affairs and national security ranks.

Song also addressed the issue of redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, which he said at the Sept. 4 committee session should be “considered as one of several approaches.” “It is not appropriate,” Song said of the redeployment idea at the Sept. 18 session. “Even without tactical nuclear weapons, we have capabilities transcending time and space with the South Korea-US allied defense posture,” he said.

On the reason for his change in stance, Song said, “I was speaking [before] as Minister of Defense, saying we need to consider all options to protect the security and lives of the public.”

“I was talking about using that as leverage to secure US assets to deter nuclear proliferation,” he explained.

Song further commented on the administration’s plans for US$8 million in humanitarian aid to North Korea. “I’ve heard that from the Ministry of Unification that the plan is to substantially slow down and adjust the aid timeline,” he said.

He also said the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) was “secretly developing” laser-based weaponry to prepare for a possible North Korean electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

The Blue House appeared taken aback by Song’s off-the-cuff remarks.

“Minister Song did not coordinate on this issue with us beforehand,” a senior Blue House official stressed. “As a special aide, Moon Chung-in is entitled to present his personal opinion. I’m not sure why [Song] went that far with his remarks,” the official said. The official also remarked on Song’s claims that the timeline for North Korean humanitarian aid was being “adjusted.” “Nothing has been explicitly decided in terms of delaying the timeline,” the official said.

By Kim Tae-gyu, Lee Jung-ae, and Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporters

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