Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrants for Seo Wook and Kim Hong-hee in 'West Sea Shooting' Case... Warrant Hearing on 21st

Former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook./Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Public Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-dong), which is investigating the 'West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident,' filed arrest warrants on the 18th for former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook and former Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard Kim Hong-hee.

Since launching the related investigation in June this year following a complaint from the bereaved families, the prosecution has taken a strong step to secure custody of the main suspects for the first time.

Former Minister Seo is accused of ordering the deletion of military secrets from the Military Integrated Information Management System (MIMS) that contradicted the government’s assessment that the late Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official Lee Dae-jun voluntarily defected to the North in September 2020.

According to the audit results announced by the Board of Audit and Inspection on the 13th, after the meeting of related ministers held on the morning of September 23, 2020, 60 military intelligence-related reports uploaded to MIMS were deleted under former Minister Seo’s orders.

Former Commissioner Kim was the overall person responsible for the Coast Guard’s investigation into Lee’s case. He is accused of announcing an investigation result that concluded voluntary defection by using unverified evidence in accordance with the Blue House National Security Office’s policy.

The warrant hearings for former Minister Seo and former Commissioner Kim will be held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, on the 21st at the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Kim Sang-woo, who is in charge of warrants.

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