Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman nominee Lee Sun-jin drew fire during a parliamentary hearing Monday, as lawmakers questioned his controversial views on former presidents’ military coups. He was also grilled over a golf trip he took shortly after a North Korean land mine injured two South Korean troops in August.

Controversy has been brewing after the 61-year-old Army general was found to have described former President Park Chung-hee’s 1961 coup as a “military revolution” in his master’s thesis in 2001.

Facing a relay of demands by opposition lawmakers for a clear explanation, Lee simply responded that it was “inappropriate to display a personal opinion” and that he had a “firm belief in political neutrality.”

As the lawmakers called for a recess in protest against his repeated refusal to give an answer, Rep. Chung Doo-un of the ruling Saenuri Party who chairs the National Assembly’s defense committee adjourned the morning session early. 

Lee, however, said later in the day that he respects the portrayal by a state history compilation committee of the 1961 takeover as a military coup, and by the Supreme Court of the Dec. 12, 1979, upheaval by former President Chun Doo-hwan as a military rebellion.

The former chief of the Army’s 2nd Operations Command became the JCS chairman designate last month as the first-ever Army Academy graduate. If he secures parliamentary endorsement and then presidential approval, he will succeed Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, whose two-year stint has come to an end.

Lee also apologized for playing golf only days after two Army staff sergeants were critically wounded in a mine blast while patrolling the southern part of the heavily fortified demilitarized zone in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

His golf trip coincided with the JCS’ unveiling that the mines were deliberately planted by North Korean troops who had crossed the border. In his defense, the general said he did not know about the findings at the time but his comment rather fueled criticism, given heightened tension that brought the two Koreas to the brink of an armed clash.

“Even though I was not aware of the situation, I admit that it was not thoughtful for a commander to play golf,” Lee said.

Should North Korea attack a border island again, the JCS will retaliate against its origin with additional weaponry including warplanes, Lee said.

“A strike on the origin involving fighters can be extra,” he said, when Saenuri Rep. Yoo Seung-min pointed out that the South only mobilized K-9 self-propelled howitzers during Pyongyang’s shelling on Yeonpyeongdo Island in 2010 which killed two civilians and more than a dozen soldiers.

“As the JCS chairman, I will instruct joint forces to hit the target.”

On Pyongyang’s nuclear capability, he said it is estimated to have a stockpile of highly enriched uranium and been working on miniaturizing its atomic devices, but the scale of the warhead arsenal or any of their deployment remains unconfirmed.

Lee also reiterated that it will be “helpful” for the U.S. Forces Korea to station advanced missile defense assets on the peninsula but South Korea has currently no plan to adopt them.

“The decision on any stationing will be made based on our own needs and national interests,” he added.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)