Prosecution Indicts Park Ji-won and Seo Wook Without Detention for 'Deleting Intelligence on West Sea Shooting' (Comprehensive)

Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 14th to undergo a prosecution investigation related to the West Sea public official shooting incident, responding to questions from the press.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution investigating the ‘West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident’ has indicted former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won and former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook on charges of ordering the deletion of intelligence related to the incident.

The Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-dong) on the 29th indicted former Director Park and former NIS Secretary General No Eun-chae without detention on charges of violating the National Intelligence Service Act. Former Minister Seo was also indicted without detention on charges including abuse of authority and damage to official electronic records.

Former Director Park and former Secretary General No are accused of ordering the deletion of related intelligence from the NIS and the Ministry of National Defense on September 23, 2020, the day after the killing of the late Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official Lee Dae-jun by North Korean soldiers, with the intent to conceal the incident.

Former Minister Seo is also accused of instructing Ministry of National Defense personnel to follow former National Security Office Chief Suh Hoon’s security maintenance orders and to delete related intelligence. He is also charged with having false reports prepared and false press releases distributed to suggest that Lee voluntarily defected to the North.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection’s audit results, immediately after the ministers’ meeting held around 1 a.m. on September 23, 46 intelligence reports or documents were deleted from the NIS, and 60 were deleted from the Ministry of National Defense’s Military Information Management System (MIMS).

Meanwhile, former Secretary General Seo was arrested and indicted on the 9th on charges including abuse of authority for ordering Joint Chiefs of Staff personnel and others to take security measures to conceal the shooting incident, thereby compelling them to perform unnecessary duties.

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