Prosecutors Preparing Summons, Seo Hoon Hires Lawyer

Expected Forced Repatriation by End of This Month... Seo's Explanation of Illegality Is Key

Seo Hoon, Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House, is visiting the transition committee office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 25th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former National Intelligence Service Director Seo Hoon, who holds the key to resolving suspicions surrounding the ‘Forced Repatriation of North Korean Fishermen’ case, returned to Korea last week, signaling that his summons for prosecution investigation is imminent. Inside and outside the prosecution, Seo’s summons is expected as early as the end of this month.

On the 2nd, the legal community analyzed Seo’s return as meaning "he is fully prepared to face the prosecution’s investigation." In fact, Seo reportedly hired a lawyer around the 30th of last month to assist him and is preparing for the prosecution’s investigation.

Seo must first clarify that the charges against him are incorrect. He was accused of forcibly ending a joint investigation conducted by the South Korean government on North Korean fishermen in November 2019 (abuse of authority under the National Intelligence Service Act) and of removing expressions such as ‘forced investigation necessary’ and ‘intention to defect’ from reports related to the forced repatriation of North Korean fishermen, while adding phrases like ‘no suspicion of anti-state activities’ (forgery of official documents), leading to his prosecution. At the same time, he must explain the illegality of the repatriation process itself, which forms the basis of these charges. This is a core issue that divides opinions in political and legal circles and is expected to be the point of strongest conflict with the prosecution.

The prosecution is investigating the case on the grounds that the repatriation process itself was illegal. They have conducted searches and seizures at the National Intelligence Service and summoned numerous related personnel from the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Unification as witnesses, focusing on strengthening the charges. The prosecution is confident in the illegality. A prosecution official expressed confidence, saying, "We are collecting related materials well." He added, "There is a Supreme Court precedent that forcibly deporting a person who has received a North Korean ID card (Citizen ID) under the Immigration Control Act is illegal," and "We are also reviewing relevant precedents necessary for the case." This official particularly emphasized, "The purpose and intention of defection must be distinguished, and at the same time, defection and repatriation intentions must be differentiated." Whether there was an intention to defect is crucial in judging the illegality of forced repatriation. Article 3 of the ‘Act on the Protection and Settlement Support of North Korean Defectors’ states, "This Act applies to North Korean defectors who express the intention to receive protection from the Republic of Korea." It is known that the two North Korean male fishermen in 2019 also expressed their intention to defect in their protection application forms and identity statements in their own handwriting.

Meanwhile, there is also interest in whether the prosecution will consecutively summon and investigate figures from the Moon Jae-in administration’s ‘North Korea security line.’ As the prosecution investigates this case along with the ‘West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident,’ former NIS Director Park Jie-won, former Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, former Minister of Unification Lee In-young, and Seo himself have come under investigation. Former Minister of Unification Kim Yeon-chul, who was in office at the time of the forced repatriation of the North Korean fishermen, also returned last month and is expected to be summoned and investigated soon.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.