'Feel firsthand the devastation of inadequate defense'
'May an ash-covered Seoul remain fictional'
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on Friday urged President Lee Jae Myung to play the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, saying he recommends the president "play this game and feel firsthand what kind of devastation unfolds when defense preparedness falls short."
Writing on Facebook that day, Han commented on the game's depiction of a surprise North Korean invasion of the South, saying, "I hope the image of a Seoul reduced to ashes in the game remains in the realm of fiction."
He criticized those who have raised concerns about the game, saying, "North Korea's invasion on June 25, 1950, was real history, and North Korea's military threat remains an undeniable reality today," and noting that "some worry the game stokes hostility toward North Korea."
Han then said that "rather than frowning at the game for depicting a North Korean invasion, we need to focus on the question it poses" — namely, "if that day comes again, are we 'prepared'?"
He went on to say that "this question is directed at the Lee Jae Myung administration's security policy," adding that "North Korea has even enshrined in law the possibility of preemptive use of nuclear weapons," yet "the president has described North Korea's nuclear arsenal as a 'weapon of last resort.'"
Han also said the government "is aggressively pushing for an early transfer of wartime operational control before sufficient verification has been completed," and questioned whether South Korea's defense readiness is adequate "at a time when even joint Korea-US military exercises have been scaled back."
He added that "peace cannot be preserved through vague hope that relies on the goodwill of the other side," stressing that "it can only be protected when we assume the worst and prepare thoroughly."
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
