It has been confirmed that some of the initially classified information collected by the military authorities regarding the killing of a public official in the West Sea in September 2020 has been deleted from the military information distribution network.
Controversy is growing as it is belatedly known that the information distribution network that shares intelligence and information with subordinate units in real time has deleted related confidential information after the murder.
This information distribution network is a military integrated information processing system (MIMS) that manages military information between divisions and above.
Regarding the deletion of some of the confidential information loaded on the MIMS in connection with the murder of the late Lee Dae-jun belonging to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "The original information has not been deleted, but sensitive information loaded on the military information integration system is directly related to business. I understand that necessary measures have been taken to prevent it from spreading to non-existent units."
It is not that the original was deleted, but necessary measures were taken, such as deleting confidential information so that it does not spread to subordinate units unrelated to work.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "The military information integration system separately manages a system for distributing information that requires high security maintenance for operational and military purposes among various operating systems." It goes to use, but we have taken measures to prevent such sensitive information from being spread to units that are not directly related to our work.”
In particular, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when asked if it meant that it was a procedure, not an unauthorized deletion, said, "It can be viewed as an action taken as necessary." "The original has not been deleted."
It is known that among the deleted documents, confidential ratings such as Level 1 and Level 2 were also included.
Some are raising suspicions that the MIMS may have deleted confidential information not only in the shooting of a public official, but also in several incidents that have been criticized for negligence by the military, such as unauthorized entry into the North Korean wooden boat Samcheok Port.
It is pointed out that these allegations should also be investigated in this audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
MIMS information management subjects and procedures are stipulated in the directive.
Depending on the nature of the information, it is operated in a structure that can be managed by the intelligence chiefs of the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "We do not know what action the agency has taken," as to whether the accusation that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had deleted related intelligence reports was related to the deletion of MIMS information.