Prosecutors Indict Park Ji-won and Seo Uk over 'West Sea Shooting'... "Attempted Cover-up, Accused of Defection" (Comprehensive Report 2)

Park Ji-won, Former Director of the National Intelligence Service [Photo by 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. At the same time, the prosecution has tentatively concluded that the late Lee Dae-jun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official killed by North Korean soldiers in the West Sea, fell into the sea by accident and drifted to the accident site due to currents.

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 Office Chief Noh 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 Office Chief Noh are accused of ordering the deletion of related intelligence from the NIS and Ministry of National Defense on September 23, 2020, the day after the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official Lee was killed by North Korean soldiers, with the intent to cover up the incident.

Former Minister Seo is also accused of instructing Ministry of National Defense staff to follow former National Security Office Chief Seo Hoon’s security maintenance orders and ordering the deletion of 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.

The prosecution identified about 50 intelligence reports deleted from the NIS under former Director Park’s orders, and a total of about 5,600 documents, including duplicates, deleted from the Ministry of National Defense and its subordinate units under former Minister Seo’s orders. The number of deleted documents far exceeds the scale revealed by the Board of Audit and Inspection. According to the audit results, 46 intelligence reports were deleted from the NIS, and 60 documents were deleted from the Ministry of National Defense’s Military Information Integrated Processing System (MIMS).

Former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook, who is suspected of covering up the shooting of a civil servant in the West Sea, is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 21st. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Former Secretary Office Chief Seo and others have denied the charges, claiming they only issued ‘security maintenance’ orders and did not order the deletion of intelligence or orchestrate the ‘defection framing.’ However, the prosecution considers it reasonable to view that the Moon Jae-in administration, given the domestic and international circumstances at the time and the government’s initial response to the incident, attempted to conceal Lee’s shooting and incineration under the pretext of maintaining security.

Furthermore, the prosecution believes that various national agencies, including the National Security Office, were aware that Lee was found in North Korean waters but took no action. In this situation, the government faced criticism for failing to rescue him after he was shot and died, which the prosecution sees as the reason for the ‘defection framing.’

The prosecution also views that the early morning of September 23, 2020, when former President Moon Jae-in was about to deliver a virtual speech at the United Nations General Assembly supporting a ‘Korean Peninsula end-of-war declaration,’ was one of the backgrounds for former Secretary Office Chief Seo and others to cover up the incident.

The prosecution plans to conduct additional investigations into former Minister Seo’s charges related to ordering the deletion of intelligence under the ‘security maintenance’ directive.

Regarding the deceased Lee, the prosecution has tentatively concluded that he did not voluntarily defect to the North by leaving the ship himself but fell by accident. They reason that if he had intended to defect, he would have taken life jackets or various swimming equipment from the fishing guidance vessel Mugunghwa 10 he was on.

No investigation has yet been conducted into former President Moon, who claimed to be the final approver of this incident.

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