Na Kyung-won calls military academy merger 'defense sabotage,' warns it could be grounds for impeachment

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won on Wednesday condemned the government's push to merge the Army, Navy and Air Force academies as "defense sabotage," warning it could constitute grounds for the impeachment of President Lee Jae Myung.

Na made the remarks at a mass rally organized by the joint alumni associations of the three service academies on the steps of the National Assembly's main building in Yeouido, Seoul. She called the merger plan "defense sabotage that would produce a weakened military," adding that it amounted to "political retaliation aimed at the past — a systemic subversion that shakes the very roots of national security."

She also directed criticism at President Lee, saying he was "speaking on behalf of North Korea by claiming that North Korea is worried about a northward invasion." Na added that the government was "dismantling the Defense Counterintelligence Command, which serves as the eyes and ears of national security," and "pushing ahead at full speed with the transfer of wartime operational control."

"What is happening now is a comprehensive destruction of security — the physical dismantling of defense and the ideological disarmament occurring simultaneously," she said. "The nation is in peril and the people are in danger. Shouldn't we stop this?"

Na also took aim at reports of declining academic standards among academy entrants, saying the government should instead "raise the treatment of junior officers and enhance the honor of those who wear the uniform." "Everything is going in reverse," she said.

She said the government's true aim was "to use the Korea Military Academy as a scapegoat to dismantle South Korea's national security — which has stood at the forefront of the anti-communist line, bound together by the strong solidarity of the Army, Navy and Air Force." She called on those present to "stand together and fight back."

On reports that real estate policy considerations were behind the plan to relocate the Korea Military Academy from its Taereung campus, Na said she found it "absolutely absurd." "Leaving all manner of loan regulations and real estate regulations in place while bulldozing the heart and sacred ground of national security to build apartments — does that make any sense?" she said.

Na issued what she called a "stern warning to the Lee Jae Myung administration," saying that if it proceeded with a hasty merger, "the president would be failing his constitutional duty to defend the state." "I warn that this could ultimately become grounds for the impeachment of the president," she said.

The rally, hosted by the joint alumni associations of the three service academies, drew nearly 2,000 people by the organizers' count. It marked the first time the associations had taken collective action over the academy merger plan.