Minister An Gyu-baek, the nominee for the Ministry of National Defense, stated during the National Defense Committee's personnel hearing on the 15th that the reason for the additional 8 months of service for short-term soldiers (defense soldiers) was due to an "administrative error," not desertion or incarceration. As the service period of nominee An, who was a short-term soldier, was recorded as 22 months instead of 14 months, the opposition raised suspicions of desertion or incarceration, prompting nominee An to rebut.
Nominee An's military record states that he enlisted as an Army defense soldier in November 1983 and was discharged as a private in August 1985. In response, nominee An said, "I was discharged in January 1985 and returned to school as a junior. After that, I received contact from the unit that I needed to serve a few more days, so I completed the remaining service during the break." He explained that the remaining service period was completed during the break and was logged at the finishing point, which made it appear as if he had served for 22 months.
Nominee An explained regarding the additional service, "The company commander and the military base sergeant asked if active duty soldiers could not provide lunch during the reserve forces training, so my mother provided lunch for the soldiers for 2 to 3 weeks. This led to a letter being sent to higher-ups, suggesting that there was an internal power struggle between the company commander and the local police chief, causing the defense soldiers to provide the food." He further clarified, "Since I was under investigation by the military, it was not included in my service record."
Additionally, nominee An responded to the point that he attended university in the second semester of 1983 and the first semester of 1985, stating, "Since I enlisted in November 1983 and completed more than two-thirds of the class days in that year's second semester, it was possible. Furthermore, during the first semester of 1985, it wasn't an actual period of service as a defense soldier, so I could complete it."