Board of Audit and Inspection Requests Investigation into Seo Hee-kyo, Park Ji-won, Seo Wook, etc. over West Sea Shooting Incident (Comprehensive)

Charges Including Negligence of Duty Applied to 20 People from 5 Agencies... "Unfounded Conclusion of Voluntary Defection"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has requested the prosecution to investigate former Blue House National Security Office Chief Suh Hoon, former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, former Minister of National Defense Suh Wook, and former Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard Kim Hong-hee in connection with the 'West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident.' They judged that the Moon Jae-in administration baselessly concluded that public official Mr. Lee voluntarily defected to North Korea, on charges including dereliction of duty, abuse of authority, and falsification of official documents.

On the 13th, the BAI announced that it requested an investigation by the prosecution into 20 individuals from five agencies during the Moon administration: the National Security Office, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Unification, National Intelligence Service, and Korea Coast Guard.

Previously, the BAI conducted an audit targeting nine agencies, including the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard, to objectively and substantively ascertain the truth of the West Sea public official shooting incident that occurred on September 22, 2020, aiming to resolve public suspicions. This action followed the investigation results announced in June, where the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard reversed their initial statements and reported that no evidence was found to confirm voluntary defection. From July 19, the BAI deployed 18 personnel, including special investigation bureau staff, for 57 days to meticulously examine the initial response and handling of the incident by related agencies such as the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard.

As a result of the inspection, the BAI found that the agencies failed to properly implement measures according to the crisis response manual. The National Security Office concealed facts by excluding Mr. Lee’s killing and incineration from the 'Daily National Security Situation Report' submitted to the President. The Coast Guard maintained search and rescue operations despite receiving information about the killing, and the Ministry of National Defense and others deleted military intelligence-related reports uploaded to MIMS (Military Information Management System) under ministerial orders.

In particular, the BAI pointed out the failure to activate the 'National Crisis Management Control Tower.' The National Security Office should assist the President in crisis management as the control tower for national crisis management during government-wide crisis situations. However, upon receiving information that Mr. Lee was found in North Korean waters, the National Security Office only relayed the situation to the Coast Guard, excluding the Ministry of Unification, the responsible ministry, and did not hold the 'initial situation assessment meeting' to decide the response direction.

The BAI also criticized the premature conclusion of 'voluntary defection' based on intelligence indicating an intention to defect that could not confirm defection and inaccurate facts. Furthermore, it was problematic that the Ministry of National Defense and others cited four points, including 'wearing a life jacket alone unlike other crew members,' which could not be verified, as grounds for voluntary defection, stating that "the possibility of voluntary defection attempt is assessed as high," without analyzing or reviewing information suggesting a low intention to defect. The BAI stated, "We plan to take strict disciplinary actions against related public officials soon after the audit results are approved by the Audit Committee."

Meanwhile, the 'West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident' refers to the case where public official Mr. Lee from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was killed by North Korean forces in the West Sea in 2020. At that time, the Moon administration concluded that Mr. Lee voluntarily defected, but under the current administration, the possibility that Mr. Lee did not defect has been raised. Accordingly, the BAI launched an audit in June.

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