By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

Chong Wa Dae strongly warned the military on Tuesday for failing to properly report last week’s shooting incident involving a North Korean patrol boat in the West Sea, according to officials.

A joint investigation team consisting of nine officials from relevant authorities is interrogating Lt. Gen. Park Seung-chun at the Joint Chiefs of Staff on charges of leaking related secret to some daily newspapers.

Upset by the military’s attitude, the presidential office is now considering taking strict punitive steps against military officials found responsible for the false report, which might have led to a bloody gun battle, a presidential aide said.

A fresh fact revealed Tuesday worsening the situation was that North Korea, contrary to the South Korean military’s previous arguments, called the South using the agreed code, ``Hallasan,’’ eight times.

The presidential office was particularly disappointed by the military’s attempt to justify its act by colluding with some media despite President Roh Moo-hyun’s order on Monday to further investigate into possible communication problems in the military’s chain of command in regards to the naval incident.

Yoon Kwang-ung, presidential advisor on defense affairs, said the Defense Ministry will have to recommend the ``intensity and scope’’ of punishments for those involved when the outcome of the inquiry is disclosed on Friday or Saturday.

``The incident happened due to the navy’s misjudgment about the importance of reporting the radio communications (between navies from the two Koreas) and for not filing the report on time,’’ he said. ``Chong Wa Dae delivered a strong warning to Defense Minister Cho Young-kil expressing deep concerns about the leakage of secret information.’’

While ordering a reinvestigation of the case on Monday, Roh stressed the focus should not be on whether the navy operated properly, but whether the situation was reported properly in accordance with the chain of command.

But the military, by leaking even confidential information to a couple of major conservative dailies, insisted its navy followed proper procedures based on the rules of engagement to cope with the July 14 incident, in which the South’s navy fired two warning shots to repel the North Korean intruder.

Dissatisfaction with the military grew when it was found to have tried to cover up its mistakes while being probed by the government’s joint investigation team.

Reversing its original report, navy officers said over the weekend that North Korea did respond to the South’s calls _ once just before the warning shots were fired and twice after that _ but failed to give out the two Koreas’ agreed codes. Without code-names, there was no evidence to suggest that the radio communication was from the North, thus no need to alter the operation, they said.

The claims, however, were soon found to be falsehoods made to justify their mistake. Contrary to previous arguments, it was found by the military authorities on Tuesday that North Korea called the South eight times using the correct code, ``Hallasan,’’.

Ruling Uri Party’s lawmakers kept raising their voices to demand harsh punishment and a massive reshuffle of the military, calling the case a ``disobedience’’ and ``disrespect’’ to the president, or the supreme commander of the nation’s armed forces.

The military chief predicted that it will take two to three days for the inspection team to complete its inquiry.

South Korea’s naval command said last Wednesday that it fired two warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat in waters near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea, the de facto maritime border, as the intruder failed to respond to its radioed warning messages.

In a later call via the hotline between the two countries, the North denied claims by the South Korean military that its patrol ship violated the border, saying it was a Chinese boat.

The area was the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002 that caused heavy casualties on both sides.

The Defense Ministry said two days later, however, that the shooting incident occurred despite the fact that the navy received radio messages from the North saying ``the approaching ship is not our ship but a Chinese fishing boat.’’ A nine-member joint investigation team was launched immediately at the president’s order on Friday.

The military’s false report on the naval incident developed into a hot political issue as the ruling party openly demanded a thorough military reshuffle describing the case as ``disapproval of the president’s leadership.’’

Rep. Kim Hee-sun even took issue with the political inclination of some of the military’s top brass, saying ``the current leadership of general-grade officers originated from authoritarian military regimes in the past when they were colonels and lieutenant colonels.’’

Some presidential office officials suspect the information on the radio communication was distorted by hard-liners in the military who feel uncomfortable with the recent series of inter-Korean reconciliation measures.

The opposition Grand National Party, on the contrary, denounced the presidential office for what it considers demoralizing and blaming the military for the alleged false report, while not focusing on whether the North violated the NLL and then lied about it on the inter-Korean hotline _ a similar argument made by the abovementioned conservative papers, such as Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr