Who is in Charge of Patching up a Loophole in Our Security?

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Who is in Charge of Patching up a Loophole in Our Security?

Cha, Su-Min

Korea National University of Education

Dept of English Education

 

It was reported that a couple of pilotless planes, which were allegedly sent from North Korea, had pictured national strategic foothold including the Blue House and nuclear facilities. Found near Paju, P-Y-DO, and most recently in Samcheok, memory chips equipped in those planes contained core information which could bring about serious disadvantage once used by North Korea. To make matters worse, the Ministry of Defense of Korea announced on April 7 that cyber defense network was severely damaged and still remains vulnerable when approached via foreign servers. Using Google, for instance, people all over the world can have an access to the list of confidential organizations as well as personal data of each member. The message we can draw from this situation is quite obvious: our national security is at stake. However, the more urgent issue we need to handle is not the crisis itself but the prevalence of public insensitivity. So called complacency, the tendency not to be aware of the seriousness of the issue is becoming so widespread that I sometimes think Koreans forget the fact that Korea is still a divided country.

It is perfectly reasonable to say that recent security problems should be attributed to the Ministry of Defense, more specifically military units dedicated to guarding the sovereign airspace and the cyber space. Solely blaming military authorities, though, can never be called a responsible treatment of a situation but is rather similar to a cop-out. The Ministry of Defense is a branch under the government in which its operation is basically supposed to be derived from citizens. Therefore, it is not unfair to argue that loose observation of two areas and even more fields that are not reported to be attacked originated from our dullness. The issue of pilotless planes, if I may suggest a clear example, has occurred three times in a row. When the first plane was found, to my chagrin, some considered it a fabricated scenario by the government to distract citizens from upcoming election while others fostered regionalism. Instead of raising voice full of reproach toward defense-related authorities, people chose to elude the gist and seriousness of the case even when the government announced that the plane was presumed to have flown from North Korea.

We are well recognizant of the old saying “if you know your enemy and yourself, you can win every battle.” When put on the other way round, it means we will lose every battle if the enemy knows minute details of our inner circumstances. This is no longer an old-fashioned maxim far from the reality but the exact statement that describes the urgent situation before our eyes. The security is undoubtedly in for total breakdown due to relentless containment both in visible and invisible ways. Unless citizens urge military authorities to strengthen overall security system and contrive definite countersteps to confront additional security threats, Korea will suffer from attacks at every corner, deepening security crisis further in the end. Now that we realized our enemy has already excavated tons of confidential matters through subtle methods, we should be conscious of sovereignty over the country and be able to cast bitter criticism towards poor security performance in order to solidify national security. We are the owner of this country: would you be sitting on your hands while a thief tries to trespass on your house?