Former Nationwide Safety Adviser Suh Hoon seems on the Seoul Central District Court docket in southern Seoul, Friday, for his trial on expenses of involvement in a cover-up of North Korea’s killing of a fisheries official in 2020. Yonhap
Former high safety officers from former President Moon Jae-in’s administration have been acquitted Friday on expenses of involvement in an alleged cover-up of the 2020 homicide of a South Korean fisheries official by North Korea.
The Seoul Central District Court docket discovered former Nationwide Safety Adviser Suh Hoon, former Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won and former Protection Minister Suh-wook not responsible for allegedly making an attempt to cowl up the incident, citing a scarcity of proof.
Former Coast Guard Commissioner Normal Kim Hong-hee and former NIS chief secretary Noh Eun-chae have been additionally acquitted.
The case goes again to Sept. 22, 2020, when the fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by North Korean troopers close to the de facto maritime border within the Yellow Sea, a day after going lacking whereas on board a fishery inspection ship. His physique was burned by the North.
On the time, the Moon administration mentioned Lee had sought to defect to the North, however prosecutors have argued the announcement was pushed by issues the incident might worsen inter-Korean relations and that officers tried to cowl it up.
The court docket decided that the defendants lacked ample motive to cowl up the official’s loss of life and the following burning of his physique, citing the previous president’s orders on the time to reveal confirmed information to the general public.
“By the prosecution’s arguments it might imply they disobeyed the president’s orders, which is tough to just accept,” the court docket bench mentioned.
It additionally discovered it tough to obviously acknowledge that the defendants allegedly pushed to painting the incident as a defection.
The bench mentioned the judgment of a defection ought to be revered even whether it is false because it was made with restricted data obtainable on the time.
The previous nationwide safety adviser and the previous spy chief voiced reduction on the court docket ruling, with the latter vowing to push for reform to forestall the politicization of the prosecution and the intelligence service.
In the meantime, the late official’s brother, who attended the listening to, instructed reporters he discovered the ruling “nonsensical,” saying he would work with others to find out the way to battle it.
The case acquired renewed consideration after the launch of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration in 2022, with the state audit company requesting the prosecution examine the case.
Prosecutors indicted the previous safety adviser on expenses of instructing the army and the Coast Guard the day after Lee’s killing to maintain the case confidential.
The previous Coast Guard chief was indicted on expenses of performing on Suh’s orders and distributing alleged false paperwork about the opportunity of the official’s defection.
The previous protection minister, Park and Noh have been charged with ordering the deletion of intelligence and paperwork as a part of the alleged cover-up.
Prosecutors had requested a four-year jail time period for the previous safety adviser, a two-year time period for Park and a three-year time period for the previous protection minister.
