The People Power Party escalated its offensive against Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back on Saturday, linking allegations of military desertion, Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) corruption and scaled-back joint military exercises to call on President Lee Jae Myung to dismiss him immediately.
Choi Su-jin, the PPP's floor spokesperson, cited North Korea's recent ballistic missile launch and official statements in a press release Saturday, criticizing the government's North Korea and security policies.
"The Lee Jae Myung administration announced it had significantly scaled back the South Korea-US joint military exercises, expressing hope the move would open the door to improved inter-Korean relations," Choi said. "Yet even after the lights went out on the training grounds, North Korea's level of provocation has only risen."
Turning to Ahn directly, Choi said "the conduct of the person bearing ultimate responsibility for national defense during this grave security situation is nothing short of appalling," and revived allegations that Ahn had gone absent without leave during his military service.
Choi noted that when asked to release his military service record, Ahn had responded, "If it's true that I deserted, then I'm the son of lawmaker Han Ki-ho." She said the path forward was straightforward. "The way to clear up the desertion allegations is very simple — just release one military service record," she said.
She then pressed the government further, asking, "Even in the face of these two problems — North Korea's continued provocations despite reduced drills, and a minister who refuses even the most basic verification — will you still stand by and say there is no problem?"
A separate bribery scandal at DAPA added further fuel to calls for Ahn's dismissal.
Park Chung-kwon, the PPP's chief spokesperson, described the detention and indictment of a Grade 5 DAPA civil servant and others on charges of aggravated bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes as "a defense industry gate that has contaminated 1.7 trillion won ($1.22 billion) worth of core military capabilities." Park said the official had taken hundreds of millions of won in bribes from a company along with 2.2 billion won in subcontracting referral rights, and had gone so far as to launder the bribes as legitimate service payments by routing them through partner firms.
Park added that "due to Ahn's incompetence, the state of security across the board is so dire it is painful to look at," and charged that "holes have been punched through every area — intelligence, strategy, procurement and integrity."
"President Lee Jae Myung must dismiss Minister Ahn immediately," Park said.
sjy@heraldcorp.com
