Defense Minister Issues Special Duty Guidelines for Korean Summit

On June 9, Defense Minister Cho Seong-tae sent "special duty guidelines" to all South Korean forces, including the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), ordering an absolute ban for all military personnel to visit golf courses and any other recreational establishments.

Other ministries are likely to follow the defense ministry's move.

In his instructions, Minister Cho emphasized that officials above the level of division chiefs in the MND and the JCS are to stay within the reach of the emergency telephone network, they are to be completely prepared for a possible accident, and they are to be on call 24 hours a day.

Minister Cho set the special duty period to last for five days from June 10 to June 14, taking into account that a weekend proceeds the summit.

In particular, he ordered that on June 10 and 11 military personnel are forbidden from using not only regular golf courses but also those located inside military units, such as at Kyeryongdae, Taenung, and Namsongdae.

An MND official offered an explanation for the prohibition on using the golf courses within the military units saying, "On Memorial day, June 6, we permitted military personnel to use the golf courses inside the unit bases, but the news media were very critical of this action."

Minister Cho stressed that thorough preparations be made to prevent not only the five major types of accidents, those related with guns and explosions, beatings, traffic accidents, fire, and public security, but also other minor ones.

by Kim Min-seok