KOR
▲ On July 30, an unidentified drone was identified near the northern Gyeonggi Province border region, prompting evacuation text messages to be sent to village heads north of the Civilian Control Line in Cheorwon. (Photo: Yonhap News)
The People Power Party (PPP) called the military's recent near-shootdown of a U.S. military drone participating in South Korea-U.S. joint exercises—having mistaken it for a North Korean drone or other threat—a "massive security disaster" and urged Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back to step down today.
"After leaving frontline GOPs and GPs with 'empty guns' and shocking the public, an unprecedented security disaster has occurred yet again, failing to even distinguish an allied drone and launching a shootdown operation," Senior Spokesperson Park Chung-kwon said in a commentary today. "The military's systemic laxity of discipline can never be brushed aside as a simple mistake."
"The PPP will hold those responsible for this incident, which completely shattered the military's surveillance and reporting network, strictly accountable," Senior Spokesperson Park demanded. "The Defense Minister, who has driven South Korea's security into total ruin without even clearly explaining past desertion suspicions, must resign immediately."
Spokesperson Cho Yong-sul also issued a commentary, stating, "Even as things have reached this point, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, who should be restoring military discipline, is nowhere to be seen. A defense minister who offers neither an apology nor a responsible response for successive operational failures has no qualification to hold that position."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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