Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Defense? Expected problems and challenges to be solved

<Anchor>

The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both of which are considered candidates for the Office of the President, play key roles in national security and international relations, respectively, so there are many things to consider before making a final decision.

The expected problems and the challenges to be solved will be delivered in turn by reporter Kim Tae-hoon and reporter Kim Min-jung, who covers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

<Reporter Tae-Hoon Kim>

The reason why the transition committee prioritizes the Ministry of National Defense is because it is advantageous in security and security, and it can completely return the Blue House to the people.

For this, the issue of relocating the situation room of the National Crisis Management Center, known as the Blue House underground bunker, must first be resolved.

In case of emergency, such as a North Korean provocation, the president will take command from a bunker, and the transition committee is considering using the Joint Chiefs of Staff within the Ministry of National Defense.

Although the Joint Chiefs of Staff is specifically designed to withstand nuclear and electromagnetic attacks, its structure makes it virtually impossible to remodel or expand.

Since the Blue House Situation Room has much more information that deals with not only military security but also political economy, it is necessary to prepare a trick that can operate together while maintaining the function of the current Joint Chiefs of Staff control room.

Right now, around the Blue House, the Patriot surface-to-air battery and drone interception battery of the 1st Guards Group of the Capital Defense Command are closely deployed in preparation for a North Korean attack.

How these batteries and units are redeployed also matters.

There are no topographical features such as Mt. Bukak to the north of the Blue House around the Ministry of National Defense.

Although it is possible to install a new anti-aircraft defense system in the high-rise building north of Yongsan, the defense capability against the commander-in-chief is inevitably low.

The issue of reconstructing the command and communication systems of the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which are currently in perfect harmony, must be carefully considered during the relocation process.

In the case of the Cyber ​​Command, which is a key force against North Korea, measures are also required to prevent the security network from being cut off before and after the relocation.

Another challenge is to persuade public opinion to change the era of Gwanghwamun to the Yongsan era outside the four main gates.

(Video coverage: Han Il-sang, video editing: Kim Kyung-yeon)

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<Reporter Kim Min-jung>

If you come to the Gwanghwamun Government Complex Seoul Annex, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is a symbolic meaning of opening the era of Gwanghwamun.

However, when using the Ministry of National Defense building, you must give up its advantages.

The Moon Jae-in administration's concerns over whether to use the Blue House underground bunker as it is or where to build the heliport is repeated.

[Yoo Hong-jun / Former Director of the Cultural Heritage Administration (January 2019): It has been concluded that there can be no substitute sites for major functions in the vicinity of Gwanghwamun other than the office of the Blue House, the main building, the heliport, etc.

The issue of the transfer of the 'Diplomatic Information Network' is also an ambush.

A total of 1,000 servers are installed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office building, including 430 servers for the diplomatic information network and 155 servers for the information protection system that encrypts them.

Due to security concerns, this is a dedicated network that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 186 diplomatic missions around the world must go through when communicating with each other.

In order to move the government office, it is necessary to back up this dedicated network and move it to a temporary server.

There is a large underground parking lot on Sejong-daero right next door and high-rise buildings are densely populated, making it vulnerable to security and the risk of wiretapping and eavesdropping.

In addition to preparing for this, it is necessary to carefully prepare measures to relieve the inconvenience of citizens in the Gwanghwamun area, which has a large floating population.

The space to which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will move should also be considered in advance.

This is because most foreign embassies in Korea are located in Gwanghwamun, so accessibility is also important.

(Video coverage: Park Young-il, video editing: Won-hee Won)