Defense ministry currently led by vice minister, No. 9 in military order of command
The ruling conservative bloc has ramped up its call to appoint a new defense minister, highlighting that the current leadership vacuum poses a risk to security on the Korean Peninsula.
The ruling People Power Party on Saturday called for the National Assembly to “actively participate” in coming up with practical measures to enhance security here, including nomination of the new defense minister.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho is currently serving as the acting minister, after former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, now charged with insurrection and arrested for playing a key role in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Dec. 3 martial law imposition, stepped down shortly after the debacle. A vice minister is ranked No. 9 in military order of command in South Korea, ranking below several in the top military brass including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“The fact that the position of the defense minister has been vacant for two months is a serious issue in a time of a serious security crisis,” the ruling party said via a commentary released in Korean through its spokesperson Cho Yong-sool.
“The consultative body formed of the government and the two rival parties must actively participate in coming up with practical measures, such as nominating the next defense minister,” it added.
Amid ongoing political turmoil here stemming from Yoon’s martial law imposition and the related trials, North Korea has continued to test-fire missiles and boast its advancing nuclear missile program through its state media. Experts have expressed concerns of a developed technology cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow in exchange for the North’s deployment of its troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.
“North Korea has demonstrated a provocative stance by saying its nuclear weapons are not a bargaining chip but designed for combat use, and denouncing calls for denuclearization as outdated and absurd statements through the Korean Central News Agency,” the People Power Party commentary read.
The KCNA on Saturday said in its own English commentary that Pyongyang’s “nuclear force is not something that can be advertised to earn recognition from anybody and not even a bargaining chip that can be exchanged for a mere sum of money.”
The ruling party said that such moves and remarks by the North is a threat to international peace and could trigger a “competition for nuclear armament” in the Northeast Asia region.
The People Power Party’s concerns are in line with the sentiments of Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who met with the ruling party’s interim leader Kwon Young-se last month and expressed hopes that the rival parties would come to an agreement on appointing a new defense minister.
Choi and Kwon agreed that “the vacancy in the ministerial-level positions in the Defense Ministry and Ministry of Public Administration and Security, as well as the several leadership positions in the military could lead to serious holes in security and public safety,” Shin Dong-wook, senior spokesperson of the People Power Party told reporters.
Several senior military commanders, accused of playing key roles in the martial law imposition, have been indicted by prosecutors, leading to further vacancies within the military. The commanders include former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who served as martial law commander on Dec. 3; Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, former commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command; Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, former commander of the Capital Defense Command; Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, former commander of the Army's Special Warfare Command; and Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho, former commander of the Defense Intelligence Command.
Choi is projected to face major hurdles in appointing a new defense minister, however, with the main opposition Democratic Party claiming that he does not have the authority to do so. In Korea’s constitutional history, an acting president has yet to nominate candidates for ministerial-level positions.
The main opposition has also been pressuring Choi to appoint Judge Ma Eun-hyuk, widely considered to have left-leaning political beliefs, to the Constitutional Court, after the acting president decided to hold off on his decision to confirm the nomination by the National Assembly. Choi cited “a lack of bipartisan consensus" behind his move to hold off on the opposition-recommended justice, after filling two of the three vacancies on the nine-member bench of the court, ahead of a ruling on Yoon’s impeachment.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
