Tag: Song Young-moo

Outgoing Defense Minister Song Young-moo (R) transfers the flag of the defense ministry to his replacement, Jeong Kyeong-doo, during a ceremony at the ministry in Seoul on Sept. 21, 2018, to mark his departure from the post and Jeong’s inauguration. (Yonhap)

Defense Minister Song Young-moo (L) shakes hands with U.S. Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on June 1, 2018, while attending a regional security forum. (Photo courtesy of the Defense Ministry) (Yonhap)

This could be a trial balloon by the ROK government to see what the US reaction would be to scaling down the upcoming joint exercises:

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo “jokingly” said Thursday the United States does not need to send a nuclear submarine and other strategic assets to Korea for the upcoming joint military drills.

He made the remark during a meeting with visiting Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Scott Swift amid speculation that Seoul hopes to scale down this year’s Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises in order to maintain the mood of inter-Korean reconciliation spurred by the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

“Lots of changes are expected in South-North relations and (security conditions) surrounding the Korean Peninsula going forward,” the minister told the admiral, who is retiring in a few months.

In particular, Song added, the two Koreas plan to hold their third summit talks in late April with South Korea and the U.S. scheduled to stage the annual exercises.

He asked Swift to keep doing his best for a firm defense posture through his retirement, reportedly slated for May.

“You need not deploy (defense assets) like nuclear submarines during the remainder of your tenure as commander,” the minister said with a slight smile in front of TV cameras.

Swift briefly replied that his troops will stay ready for deployment in case of an order from national leaders.

Ministry officials later played down Song’s remark as a joke.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

In today’s day and age you have to be careful about every word you say as the ROK Defense Minister recently found out:

Of all the remarks to boost the morale of South Korean soldiers protecting the inter-Korean border, he picks the wrong one.

Making a sexual remark may boost male soldiers’ morale, but Defense Minister Song Young-moo chose the wrong place at the wrong time when he visited the Joint Security Area (JSA) Monday.

Two weeks after a North Korean soldier was shot five times when he dramatically escaped to the South through the JSA in the Panmunjeom truce village, Song visited the scene.

Besides checking out the scene, he met and encouraged South Korean soldiers for managing the incident well.

Song met the soldiers at a lunch in a mess hall, where he arrived late. Being apologetic, he cut short his talk so the soldiers would not have to wait long before eating.

“It’s not fun to listen to someone haranguing on and on before a food table,” Song said. “People say that the shorter speeches and miniskirts are the better, right?”

The soldiers replied with a thunderous “Yes, sir. ” Song finished his speech by saying he had come to the JSA to deliver the public’s praise for them for saving the badly wounded North Korean.

But Song’s “miniskirt” comment made headlines that suggested his choice of words was sexually offensive.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but add that to the list of banned speech that you can’t tell people you like miniskirts.

Some strong language from the US and ROK Defense Chiefs:

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States made clear Saturday that North Korea’s provocations will never be tolerated, as the two warned any act of aggression will be met with a “massive military response.”

They also stressed it’s pipe dream for North Korea to be recognized as a nuclear power.

The allies “reaffirmed that any North Korean aggression or military provocation will not be tolerated,” read the joint communique issued after their annual defense ministerial talks.

The two sides will continue combined efforts to “make North Korea understand that it cannot achieve the ends it seeks through its provocative behavior,” it added.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo told reporters that he and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis condemned the North’s reckless provocations, including a series of recent ballistic missile launches and a nuclear test.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I guess the question now becomes what is an “act of aggression”?  Does ballistic missile and nuclear tests count as an act of aggression worth a massive military response?

As the below picture shows US Defense Secretary Mattis decided not to wear his old Marine uniform to the DMZ like he previously indicated he would:

Mattis arrived in South Korea earlier in the day. Shortly after landing at Camp Bonifas by Black Hawk chopper, he and Song headed to the OP Ouellette, a hilltop border post, and looked around a bunker underneath the facilities only 25 meters away from the North’s territory.

They were briefed on Panmunjom by U.S. Army Col. Steve Lee, secretary of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC). They then toured the UNCMAC’s blue-colored conference building which stands on the Military Demarcation Line.

The North’s guards closely monitored the ministers’ activities, with a group of tourists looking down from the Panmungak building in the North.

In their Clark talks, the South’s minister proposed Mattis, a former Marine Corps general, wear a combat uniform for the DMZ trip to send a highly symbolic message to the North. Mattis responded positively to the offer at that time, according to Song.

But Mattis was dressed in a suit as usual after internal consultations apparently in order to avoid possible controversy over a dress code reflecting the U.S. defense secretary’s public availability.

Asked whether President Donald Trump can travel to the DMZ when he visits South Korea early next month, Mattis was guarded.

Following the DMZ tour, he paid a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae and met with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what the North Koreans have to say about this visit and messaging by US Secretary Defense James Mattis:

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo said Monday he and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis plan to use military uniforms for a joint warning message to North Korea this week, when they meet in South Korea for bilateral annual talks.

Song proposed that Mattis wear a Marine Corps combat uniform, instead of a suit, in meeting with the allies’ troops on the peninsula together. The Pentagon chief is a retired Marine Corps general.

Song, a former Navy admiral and chief of staff, will be dressed in a Navy combat uniform as well.

“I offered that to Secretary of Defense Mattis and he responded positively without hesitation,” the minister told reporters during a visit to Clark, the Philippines, for a regional security forum hosted by Southeast Asian countries.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

In this photo courtesy of the Defense Ministry, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, escorted by Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who commands the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), inspects an honor guard during his first visit to the CFC on Aug. 4, 2017. (Yonhap)