We must not forget!

Ms. Park Killed by Garrison Unit, Not Infantry

By Park In Ho [2008-07-15 18:33 ]

The North Korean soldier who shot the late Park Wang Ja was not a regular infantryman, who watches over military facilities, but it is highly possible that he belonged to the "Mt. Geumgang Garrison," a group made up of soldiers transferred from the “Civilian Affairs Administrative Police Unit." Joo Sung Il, Chairman of the Baekdu Halla Association, a young defectors organization based in Seoul, who defected over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in 2002 while working in the No. 2 Army Corps of the Civilian Police Unit, maintained in a phone conversation with the Daily NK, "According to the testimony of witness Lee Ihn Bok (23), three soldiers jumped out of the woods after the shooting of Park and they were most likely not infantrymen of the military facility close by, as insisted by the North." Chairman Joo explained that North Korea's “Mt. Geumgang Garrison" holds power transferred from nine Civilian Police Units. Accordingly, the Mt. Geumgang Garrison has the same operational principles as the Civilian Police Unit." The Civilian Police Unit is the corps which guards the border within the DMZ. According to the Korean War Armistice Agreement, the civilian police have to take responsibility for guarding the DMZ. The members of this unit are as professional as well-trained Special Forces, unlike South Korean military in guard posts. North Korea, immediately before the start of the Mt. Geumgang tours, organized the “Mt. Geumgang Garrison” with soldiers transferred from the People's Army Infantry Company. However, when the rumors about their violence or giving and receiving money started to circulate, soldiers were transferred from the “border battalion” in the North Korea-China border region. Subsequently, the Civilian Police Unit transferred its employees and formed the current “Mt. Geumgang Garrison." According to the explanation of Chairman Joo, Park did not climb over the 1.5m high sand mound which demarcated the military restricted area by the beach on the early morning of the 11th nor was shot by an infantryman located approximately 1km from the North Korean checkpoint, but it is highly possible that she was shot by the garrison unit which lies waiting overnight at a mid point. He pointed out, "A Civilian Police Unit is not formed for defense, so in the case of an emergency, for an immediate response, the smallest battle unit of three people each is formed... Lying in ambush or for inspections also operates three people to one group; however this is not just an average infantry unit; it is distinguishable as the 27th Brigade Border Garrison, which is made up of two people per unit in the Tumen River and Yalu River regions in the far north. He explained regarding the difference between the account that said warning shots and finally two aimed shots were fired, and of witness Lee Ihn Bok that he only heard two gunshots, "In the case of an average infantryman, they can fire an actual shot only after a warning. However, the Civilian Police Unit can fire immediately while omitting the warning shot.” However, he said, "It is not the first time that South Korean tourists have entered restricted areas and there have been several incidents like this, but a North Korean soldier has never fired a gunshot. If it is true that warning shots were not fired, but actual shots were fired, then it is highly possible that this incident was carefully planned." Chairman Joo also emphasized, "Average North Korean infantrymen do not have orders to aim at civilians, and they cannot independently decide to shot a South Korean civilian, which would always erupt into a political issue.” Last May, a civil servant working for North Chungcheong Provincial Office in South Korea visited the Mt. Geumgang site as part of a work-related educational process and was detained at a North Korean army post, but did not encounter any other incidents. He was jogging around 5:30 A.M. in the direction of Onjungkak and was detained for half an hour at a North Korean checkpoint, but the two North Korean infantrymen who detained him, while they had guns, conducted orders by blowing on their whistle. Chairman Joo said related to the chest and hip wounds inflicted on Park, "In order to strike the target with an AK-47 rifle, a person needs to be within a 100 meter distance. Such a technique surpasses the standard of average North Korean infantrymen." Such a statement gave credence to the possibility of the shooting having been over a short distance, in contrast to the North's explanation. He pointed out, "If North Korea, according to a particular political goal, needed to detain or execute a South Korean citizen, the Mt. Geumgang tourism area is probably the most suitable. In the tourism area, the ideologically and militarily elite soldiers are arrayed, while South Korean citizens are exposed in a defenseless state." Lee Myung Ho (pseudonym), who entered South Korea in 2005 after working at an army unit in Kangwon Province in the North, said, "According to the North Korean army regulations, it is impossible for a border infantryman to decide whether or not to fire on a South Korean tourist." He said, "In the case of the Mt. Geumgang garrison, each post and army affairs office is directly connected. Whether or not to shoot a South Korean cannot be single-handedly decided even by commanders of the army corps and other commanders." He said, "In North Korea, the fact that South Koreans are coming and going from Mt. Geumgang is a very important political issue. In the South, there have been talks about whether or not the shooting was carried out by the North Korean army or the hardliners, but only Kim Jong Il can determine such things."