Former Special Inspector Lee Seok-su Defends Seo Hoon in 'Forced Repatriation of North Korean Fishermen' Case
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Special Inspector Lee Seok-su has taken on the defense of former National Intelligence Service Director Seo Hoon, who was reported to the prosecution over the 'Forced Repatriation of North Korean Fishermen' case and others.
According to the legal community on the 5th, after returning from the United States at the end of last month, former Director Seo has formed a legal team centered around former Inspector Lee to prepare for the prosecution investigation.
Former Inspector Lee, who is also a former prosecutor, is regarded as a public security expert and an inspection specialist. After passing the judicial examination in 1986, he served as head of the Public Security Department at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, and in 2012, he was appointed as a special prosecutor assistant for the 'Lee Myung-bak President Naegok-dong Residence Land Purchase Suspicion' case.
Appointed as the first Special Inspector in 2015 during the Park Geun-hye administration, he clashed while inspecting Woo Byung-woo, then Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, and resigned at the end of August 2016.
From August 2018 for two years, he served as the Director of the Policy Office at the National Intelligence Service under the Moon Jae-in administration, working alongside former Director Seo. He was also affiliated with the NIS during the forced repatriation suspicion.
Former Director Seo is suspected of deliberately deleting expressions such as 'defection' from the report delivered to the Ministry of Unification after concluding the Central Joint Intelligence Investigation on two North Korean fishermen who defected in November 2019 in a shorter period of 3 to 4 days than usual. The NIS reported former Director Seo to the prosecution on this charge.
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Additionally, regarding the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident,' he was accused by the bereaved family of Lee Dae-jun of fabricating the case by issuing guidelines in September 2020, when he was the Director of the National Security Office, and categorically labeling the deceased Lee as a defector to the North.
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