Ha Tae-kyung: "Moon Administration's Directive to Announce Possibility of Defection to North Korea Rather Than Extreme Choice"

National Security Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Distribute Guidelines

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, is being interviewed at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 1st. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Regarding the shooting death of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) official, claims have emerged that the Moon Jae-in administration's Blue House National Security Office issued guidelines to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others indicating the possibility that the late Lee Dae-jun had defected to North Korea.

On the 1st, Ha Tae-kyung, head of the People Power Party's MOF Official West Sea Shooting Truth Investigation Task Force (TF), held a roundtable with experts and stated, "In the guideline issued on September 24, 2020, by the National Security Office instructing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all overseas posts to disseminate, there was a directive to inform that the possibility of defection to North Korea was higher than that of an extreme choice, and we have confirmed this with our own eyes."

Ha mentioned former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook, former National Security Office Director Seo Hoon, and former First Deputy Director Seo Ju-seok as the "Three Seos (3Seo)" and said, "We have confirmed evidence that various government departments led the campaign to portray the incident as a defection to North Korea."

He pointed out, "Former Minister Seo Wook did not effectively serve as the Minister of National Defense but acted as an agitator for the defection narrative. He was the first person to publicly state that the possibility of defection was high."

During the roundtable, a simulation reenacting the scene at the time was conducted. The TF explained that if the Moon Jae-in administration and the Blue House had responded properly at the time, Lee Dae-jun could have been saved.

Kim Jin-hyung, former Navy Logistics Commander who served as the head of the National Crisis Management Center under the Lee Myung-bak administration, said at the roundtable, "In the waters near Yeonpyeong Island, naval patrol boats, warships, and even coast guard vessels are always deployed in large numbers, so if the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the government had issued orders, they were ready to dispatch to the scene at any time."

Kim emphasized, "If the government and Joint Chiefs of Staff had immediately sent coast guard vessels to the nearby waters upon confirming the missing person and issued warnings to the North, they would never have committed the atrocity of shooting our official or burning the body."

TF member Kim Young-soo said, "The patrol boats have loudspeakers that can transmit messages over at least 5 km. Since the missing person was 3 km away, if they had used the loudspeaker, it means North Korea would have heard it." He added, "If they had recorded with searchlights and video equipment installed on the ship, North Korea would have seen our citizen, so they could not have executed or burned him."