'West Sea Shooting Cover-up' Seo Hoon, Former National Security Office Chief, Requests Bail from Court

Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] Seo Hoon, former director of the Blue House National Security Office, who is accused of concealing the West Sea shooting incident, filed a bail application with the court two weeks after being indicted in custody.

According to the legal community on the 24th, Seo Hoon's side submitted a bail application to the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 25-2 (Presiding Judges Park Jeongje, Park Sarang, Park Jeonggil) the day before. The date for the bail hearing has not yet been set, and Seo's first pretrial hearing is scheduled for the 20th of next month.

Seo, who was detained on the 3rd, was indicted on the 9th. The defense team stated immediately after the indictment, "The prosecution's indictment is an unjust act fearing release upon a review of detention," and added, "We will do our best to exercise the defendant's right to defense through legal procedures such as bail."

Seo was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of rights for instructing Joint Chiefs of Staff officials and former Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Honghee to maintain secrecy in a ministerial meeting held around 1 a.m. on September 23, 2020, the day after the late Lee Daejun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, was killed by North Korean soldiers. He is also accused of distributing false press releases to the Coast Guard to make it appear as if they were searching for Lee.

He is also charged with fabricating and using false official documents by having the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard prepare reports and press releases to fabricate a "defection to the North" until October 2020, and distributing such false materials to overseas diplomatic missions and related ministries at the National Security Office level.

The prosecution believes Seo instructed related ministries to delete intelligence related to the shooting incident and is expected to indict him additionally next week.

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