'West Sea Shooting' Seo Hoon Arrested... Prosecution Secures Investigation Momentum on 'Higher-Ups'

Court Issues Arrest Warrant Citing "Risk of Evidence Tampering"

Former National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, who was the top official in the Moon Jae-in administration's North Korea security line during the "West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident," is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 2nd. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Seo Hoon, former director of the National Security Office and the top official in the Moon Jae-in administration's North Korea security line, was detained on the 3rd. As the first arrest warrant has been issued for a senior official of the previous administration's Blue House in connection with the 'West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident,' there is a possibility that the prosecution's investigation will target the so-called 'upper echelon,' former President Moon.

Kim Jung-min, the judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, who conducted the pre-arrest interrogation (warrant review) of former Director Seo the day before, issued the arrest warrant in the early morning, stating, "Considering the seriousness of the crime, the suspect's status, and relationships with related parties, there is a concern of evidence tampering," as requested by the prosecution.

The detention hearing for former Director Seo was held from 10 a.m. to 8:06 p.m. on the same day. The prosecution and Seo's defense engaged in a dispute for about 10 hours and 6 minutes, marking the longest record since the warrant review system was introduced in 1997.

The prosecution presented a PowerPoint presentation spanning hundreds of pages, pointing out that former Director Seo led the crime as the 'control tower' for covering up the incident or fabricating the defection to North Korea. Seo's defense also rebutted, based on their prepared PowerPoint and written opinions, that the response at the time was a 'policy decision' made after comprehensively reviewing various intelligence and is not subject to judicial judgment. After the interrogation ended, former Director Seo said, "I sincerely participated in the review," and headed to the waiting area at Seoul Detention Center, but due to the warrant issuance that day, he immediately underwent detention procedures.

On the 29th of last month, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Heedong) requested an arrest warrant for former Director Seo from the court. Seo was the highest-ranking official in the Blue House's diplomatic and security line in September 2020 when Lee Dae-jun, a public official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, was killed by North Korean soldiers. He is accused of abusing his authority, obstructing the exercise of rights, and falsifying official documents by prematurely concluding Lee's 'voluntary defection' at a ministerial meeting held around 1 a.m. on September 23, 2020, the day after Lee's death, and instructing related ministries to delete confidential intelligence that contradicted this.

Seo's defense has denied the charges, stating, "It is unimaginable to attempt to cover up the incident." In a statement released on the 30th of last month, they said, "At the time, related intelligence was shared among several ministries including the Ministry of National Defense, the National Intelligence Service, the National Security Office, and the Ministry of Unification, and if including working-level officials, more than 200 to 300 people knew about it, so it is unimaginable to attempt a cover-up. However, maintaining confidentiality until the official announcement to protect the source and verify the reliability of the intelligence is a very natural thing." They also added, "This case involved a serious and urgent national security situation, and policy decisions were made based on various intelligence collected from multiple ministries. It is difficult to accept retrospective judicial judgment on this."

Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won is also suspected of ordering the deletion of internal agency intelligence reports. With Seo's custody secured, there is also a possibility that the prosecution will investigate the involvement of former Director Park and another 'upper echelon,' former President Moon.

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