Democratic United Party presidential candidate Rep. Moon Jae-in said Friday that he would uphold the Northern Limit Line of the West Sea and prepare firm security capacity to fend off any type of provocation by North Korea.

“I will sternly maintain the NLL and promote measures to ease the tension (with North Korea) simultaneously,” Moon said in his announcement of his position on security and defense policy.

“A country cannot exist without security. In order to protect the nation’s interest and boost our national strength in the midst of a military threat by North Korea and intense competition among the surrounding world powers, our national security must be strong,” Moon said.

As part of his campaign to underscore his defense pledges, Moon paid respect at the tributary monument for those killed in the second Yeonpyeong battle in 2002 and visited a navy base in the West Sea before meeting with former defense ministers for a debate.

The former presidential chief-of-staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun also criticized the Lee Myung-bak government, stating that the sinking of the Cheonan ship and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 occurred due to the failure of the incumbent administration to maintain both peace and security.

“As the world’s only divided country, peace is our (way of) survival and our future. For peace we need security.”

For this, Moon proposed a five-point vision to secure strong defense posture through effective defense reform, successfully accomplish the transfer of wartime operational control slated for 2015, maintain the NLL and ease tension in the West Sea such as by promoting military dialogue with North Korea and improving military welfare.

Moon also vowed to promote and develop the alliance with the United States and seek cooperation with the opposition party in pushing ahead the security policies if he becomes president.

As part of the reform to make the nation’s military more compact and efficient, Moon pledged to shorten the obligatory military service period to 18 months, and reduce the size of the military to 500,000 by 2020.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)