Prosecutors Summon North Korean Interception Unit Member for SI Collection in 'West Sea Official Killing' Case

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution investigating the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident' is summoning intelligence unit members responsible for collecting Special Intelligence (SI) for questioning.

According to the legal community on the 18th, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-dong) summoned members of the 777 Command, an intelligence unit overseeing the military's SI collection and support, as witnesses.

The 777 Command, where South Korean and U.S. forces work together, is an organization under the Defense Intelligence Agency that intercepts North Korean military communications to obtain Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and supplies it via MIMS to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Ministry of National Defense.

During the investigation, the prosecution reportedly inquired about the information supplied to MIMS before and after the killing of Mr. Lee, information that was deleted, and the nature of that information.

When Mr. Lee Dae-jun, an employee of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, was killed by North Korean gunfire on September 22, 2020, the Ministry of National Defense announced it as a 'presumed voluntary defection to the North' and is suspected of deleting classified information such as intercepted data within the Military Integrated Information Processing System (MIMS).

The Ministry of National Defense refuted this, stating that some classified information was only restricted from spreading to units unrelated to the duties, and that the problematic '7-hour original' was not deleted.

However, the prosecution has recently been closely examining this suspicion. On the 14th, they summoned Colonel A, responsible for military intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency who manages MIMS, for questioning. If circumstances confirming that classified materials that could exclude the government's 'presumed defection' judgment were deleted are found, the prosecution may conduct raids on the Ministry of National Defense and the Defense Intelligence Agency to secure physical evidence.

The prosecution is also focusing on whether there is any connection between the classified information deleted from MIMS and the intelligence reports within the National Intelligence Service (NIS) suspected to have been ordered deleted by former NIS Director Park Ji-won.

Former Director Park is suspected of abuse of authority under the National Intelligence Service Act for allegedly instructing his secretary-general, a close aide, to delete a report emphasizing the possibility of Mr. Lee's 'drifting' after it was drafted within the NIS.

The investigation into the 'forced repatriation of North Korean fishermen' allegations is also ongoing. The Public Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jun-beom) is investigating after securing the 'protection application' and 'self-introduction letters' submitted by two detained North Korean fishermen to the government joint investigation team and the Ministry of Unification through a raid on the NIS.

Meanwhile, seven organizations including the Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (Hanbyun) and the Federation of North Korean Human Rights Organizations filed a complaint with the prosecution on the same day, accusing former President Moon Jae-in of murder and other charges related to the defection incident of North Korean fishermen.