Reform Party floor leader mocks PPP lawmaker over minister's son at military academy hearing

Reform Party Floor Leader Cheon Ha-ram took a jab at a People Power Party lawmaker Wednesday at a public hearing on the proposed consolidation of the military academies, asking why Rep. Han Ki-ho had not brought Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-baek's son along to the event.

Speaking at the hearing held at the Defense Convention center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Cheon drew cheers from opponents of the consolidation plan before adding, "Is that Han Gyu-baek now?"

The remark referenced an earlier exchange in which Minister Ahn, pushing back against allegations that he had gone absent without leave during his military service, said, "If I had deserted, I'd be Rep. Han Ki-ho's son." Han had responded that he had apparently "adopted a minister's son out of nowhere."

At the hearing, Cheon said he could not understand, even listening objectively, why the academies needed to be merged. "If we invested the 2.3 trillion won ($1.66 billion) consolidation cost into joint training instead, our military would become the best in the world," he said.

He added that spending the money on buying cadets new mattresses, repairing facilities and raising professors' salaries "would be far more rational."

"Administrations are short, but national security is forever," Cheon said. "Merging three military academies is, in effect, shutting them down and starting over. We cannot afford to throw 60 to 70 years of accumulated military expertise in the trash."

He also said he had attended many debates on contentious issues but had "never seen one this lopsided." Cheon added that President Lee Jae Myung had cited the insurrection attempt as a reason for the consolidation, yet the argument had not come up once at the hearing. "Could it be they left it out because of guilt by association?" he said.