[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The prosecution investigating the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident' summoned a senior official of the Korea Coast Guard who led the investigation at the time for questioning.
On the morning of the 8th, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Heedong) summoned Kim Taegyun, a Korea Coast Guard Senior Superintendent, as a suspect for investigation. It is reported that the prosecution confirmed with Superintendent Kim the circumstances under which the Coast Guard at the time judged the case as a voluntary defection to the North.
Previously, in September 2020, when the late Lee Daejun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, was killed by North Korean soldiers in the northern waters of the West Sea, Superintendent Kim was the head of the Criminal Division at the Coast Guard Headquarters and responsible for the related investigation.
The Coast Guard announced an interim investigation result eight days after Lee's disappearance, concluding that he had defected to the North, but in the final investigation result announced in June, more than two years later, they changed their position, stating that "no evidence was found to recognize the intention of defection to the North."
The bereaved family filed a complaint against former National Security Office Chief Suh Hoon and other former Blue House officials of the previous administration who created the 'defection frame,' as well as Superintendent Kim and the Coast Guard investigation command line, on charges including obstruction of official duties, abuse of authority, and falsification of official documents.
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