'West Sea Shooting' Former NIS Director Park Ji-won Summoned for Prosecutor's Investigation Today

Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won, who was accused of unauthorized deletion of intelligence reports related to the West Sea government official shooting incident, will appear before the prosecution for investigation on the 14th.

On the 14th at 10 a.m., former Director Park will go to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office as a suspect and be investigated by the Public Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-dong).

Former Director Park was reported to the prosecution by the National Intelligence Service in July on suspicion of unauthorized deletion of intelligence-related reports concerning the situation when the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, the late Lee Dae-jun, was shot by North Korean soldiers in September 2020 (abuse of authority under the National Intelligence Service Act). According to the Board of Audit and Inspection's findings, after a meeting of related ministers held at 1 a.m. on September 23, the day after Lee’s shooting was confirmed, the NIS deleted 46 intelligence reports and other materials without authorization.

The prosecution suspects that after attending the meeting of related ministers, former Director Park received instructions from former National Security Office Chief Suh Hoon to "maintain security" and ordered the deletion of NIS documents.

Former Director Park denies the charges, stating that he never gave any deletion orders nor instructed NIS employees regarding this matter.

On the previous day, Park posted on his social media service (SNS) Facebook account, "I will act like the chief secretary to former President Kim Dae-jung under any circumstances," and added, "I will testify truthfully during the prosecution investigation."

Meanwhile, on the afternoon of the same day, Lee Rae-jin, the elder brother of Lee Dae-jun, plans to file a complaint with the prosecution accusing former President Moon Jae-in of dereliction of duty for failing to take rescue measures despite knowing that Lee was in North Korea, and of spreading false information and defaming the deceased by declaring Lee’s defection to the North. Earlier, former President Moon stated that he gave the final approval for the report related to the West Sea shooting incident at that time.

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