Prosecutors to Indict Seo Wook for 'West Sea Killing' Possibly Today... Kim Honghee's Indictment Also Imminent

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution is set to indict former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook (59) and former Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard Kim Hong-hee (54), who are accused of deleting information related to the 'West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident,' in the near future.

According to the legal community on the 8th, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-dong) plans to indict Seo and Kim before their detention period expires on the 9th.

The indictment could be decided as early as today. The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Appeals Division 5-2 (Presiding Judges Won Jeong-sook, Jeong Deok-su, Choi Byeong-ryul) is scheduled to announce the result of the detention review requested by Seo's side this afternoon. Seo had requested the court the previous day to review the legality of his detention, arguing that "the investigation has been sufficiently completed, and the defendant should be able to exercise the right to defense, so continued detention is excessive." The prosecution may indict Seo as soon as the detention review result is released.

However, the detention review result is not expected to influence the timing or decision of the indictment. The prosecution has already been conducting the investigation with plans to indict before the 9th, having secured sufficient testimony and physical evidence, and there are reportedly no major obstacles to the indictment.

Seo is accused of ordering the unauthorized deletion of special classified information (SI) shared on the military information network 'Military Integrated Information Processing System (MIMS)' around the time of two ministerial meetings held the day after the death of Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official the late Lee Dae-jun, who was shot by North Korean soldiers in September 2020. Lee’s family filed a complaint against Seo with the prosecution in July.

The Board of Audit and Inspection also revealed audit results with similar findings. According to the audit, the Ministry of National Defense recognized Lee’s death immediately after it occurred, and the Blue House National Security Office held a ministerial meeting the next morning. There is evidence that Seo ordered the deletion of intelligence reports from MIMS and other systems immediately after this meeting.

Former Commissioner Kim Hong-hee is also expected to be indicted soon alongside Seo. The prosecution plans to decide on Kim’s judicial processing within this week. Kim was detained on charges including abuse of authority, falsification of official documents, and defamation of the deceased, but was temporarily released on the 6th after his detention was suspended due to the death of his father.

As the head of the Coast Guard, Kim is accused of prematurely concluding that Lee voluntarily defected to North Korea by using unverified evidence, concealing existing evidence, and distorting experimental results, and then announcing the investigation results. During the interim investigation announcement, he mentioned Lee’s gambling debts and stated, "It is judged that he defected to escape reality," thereby damaging Lee’s reputation. Notably, during the reporting process of materials from the Ministry of National Defense and others indicating that Chinese characters were inscribed on the life jacket Lee was wearing, Kim reportedly said, "I will pretend I didn’t see that," which sparked controversy.

After the indictment of the two, the case is expected to enter a new phase. The legal community anticipates that the prosecution will intensify investigations targeting the previous administration’s security line. Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, former National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, and former First Deputy Director of the National Security Office Seo Joo-seok are expected to be investigated.

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