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Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung
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Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung on Thursday provoked an outcry by saying the West Sea Battle of 2002 ¡°should prompt South Korea to reflect how it can ensure national security.¡± Twenty-four South Korean soldiers were killed or injured in the battle, which took place when North Korean soldiers crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto maritime border between the two Koreas, and launched an attack on June 29, 2002 coinciding with the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup.
Lee told the parliamentary standing committee on unification the ¡°characteristics and historical background¡± of the sea border are important, but so are ¡°the purposes South Korea aims to achieve through the establishment of the maritime border.¡± The minister made the remarks in response to Grand National Party Rep. Shim Jae-yup, who had asked why South Korean soldiers risked their lives to protect the sea border if it was ¡°not a territorial concept,¡± as Lee had asserted on Aug. 10. There has been intense speculation that South Korea will discuss redrawing the NLL at the upcoming inter-Korean summit.
Shim said Lee seemed to mean that the 2002 battle would not have occurred if Seoul had accepted Pyongyang¡¯s demand to redraw the NLL. The lawmaker accused Lee of insulting the memory of the South Korean soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation.
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Seo Young-seok, the father of Seo Hu-won, who was killed during the June 29 West Sea battle in 2002, kisses a bronze relief of his son during the third anniversary of the battle in Pyeongtaek.
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The Korea Veterans¡¯ Association urged the minister to immediately explain and apologize for his ¡°reckless¡± remarks, which ¡°belittled the patriotism¡± of the killed soldiers. The father of Yoon Young-ha, a sailor killed in the 2002 West Sea Battle, said, ¡°I¡¯m concerned about the nation. People say that South Korea is now a broken clock. I think it will go wrong further. I don¡¯t want to talk about this anymore.¡±
Lee later explained that he had only intended to stress that the South should devise measures to prevent even accidental clashes with North Korea, as South Korean soldiers were killed despite a clearly demarcated sea border.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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