On the 5th, President Lee Jae Myung said, “The Korea Military Academy has been at the center of three coups, yet it has never once been held to account,” ordering that the integration of the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies be accelerated. Regarding the idea of referring to North Korea by its full official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Joseon), he said, “Calling the two Koreas by their official names is something that has room for controversy,” adding, “We should think carefully about it.” As for the Criminal Procedure Act, which abolishes the authority of the prosecution to order supplementary investigations, he said, “There is an aspect in which it has become very easy for the police to bury cases,” and instructed, “Find ways to supplement this.”

At a policy briefing at Cheong Wa Dae that day by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and others, he said, “Although the Korea Military Academy carried out military coups and committed acts that wholly destroyed the constitutional order three times, it still occupies an overwhelmingly dominant position,” adding, “Who would have imagined that Army generals would collude and launch a loyalist military coup? We must ensure this cannot happen in the future.”

He went on to say, “(The 12·3 insurrection) is already in the past and was suppressed, but that does not mean this is something we can simply let slide.”

With the Ministry of National Defense having announced on the 16th of last month a policy to integrate the three service academies at Jaundae in Daejeon and establish a four-year Armed Forces Academy, backlash against the integration has emerged, led by the Korea Military Academy alumni association. President Lee said, “We must provide sufficient explanation to the public,” and ordered, “Proceed swiftly with the establishment of the Armed Forces Academy.” The Ministry of National Defense plans to hold a public hearing related to the creation of the Armed Forces Academy at the Defense Convention in Seoul on the 26th, gather public opinion, and then draw up detailed plans for the establishment of the Armed Forces Academy by October.

Jeong Dong-young proposes “Let us call North Korea Joseon”
President Lee urges caution: “There is room for controversy”

President Lee urged Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young to take a cautious approach to the idea of calling North Korea “Joseon.” He said, “If we get snagged over wording and are drawn into partisan strife, it could actually produce a worse situation,” adding, “Against our intentions, a single term or expression becomes the subject of political warfare, so we must be all the more prudent.” In his briefing, Minister Jeong said, “As a first step in calling each other by name, we should stop using language of confrontation and hatred toward each other, such as principal enemy.”

On the preemptive restoration of the 9·19 military agreement, President Lee said, “Because the situation in inter-Korean relations has not continued to improve, there arises backlash along the lines of ‘Are we making unilateral concessions?,’” adding, “At times I have some doubt as to whether acting in accordance with our goodwill truly adds to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

In briefings from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, regarding the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act passed at the Cabinet meeting the previous day, he said, “As the police's authority becomes very large, they have come to hold the right to conclude investigations. In the past, even if someone wanted to go easy on a case, everything would go to the prosecution anyway, so it was hard to act recklessly. Now, as long as it does not get snagged as an internal matter and if they merely shut the victim’s mouth, there is an aspect in which it becomes very easy to bury a case.”

He instructed, “Because this changes wholesale a system that has been in place for decades, it will not neatly eliminate every problem and instantly become a new system. We must surface as many problems as can arise now as possible and do our utmost to devise countermeasures for them.”

Aiming at the “Jang Yun-gi case,” he said, “There are also things about how the police handled family-related cases, and these days it has even gone from ‘hyangpan’ to ‘hyangchal’,” adding, “If we are to implement rotational assignments for the police, there needs to be support for official housing or transportation allowances, and this is something we should think through together.” To the prosecution, he urged, “Do not treat cases returned with non-referral decisions with indifference; carefully reviewing them is an important activity by the prosecution for protecting victims.”