Prosecution Indicts Seo Hoon in Custody for 'West Sea Shooting'... Kim Hong-hee Indicted Without Detention

Former National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, who was the top official in the Moon Jae-in administration's North Korea security line during the "West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident," is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 2nd. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Seo Hoon, former National Security Office chief, who was identified as the top official responsible during the 'West Sea Public Official Shooting Incident,' was indicted while in custody on the 9th. This is the first prosecution case among high-ranking officials of the Moon Jae-in administration's Blue House.

On this day, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Heedong) indicted former Blue House National Security Office chief Seo Hoon on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of rights. Former Korea Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Honghee was indicted without detention.

Seo is accused of instructing Joint Chiefs of Staff officials and former Commissioner Kim to take 'security maintenance' measures to conceal the shooting incident during a ministerial meeting held around 1 a.m. on September 23, 2020, the day after the death of the late Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official Lee Daejun, who was killed by North Korean forces, thereby causing them to perform unnecessary duties (abuse of authority and obstruction of rights). He is also charged with distributing false press releases to the Coast Guard to make it appear as if they were searching for Lee while hiding the shooting incident.

Seo is also accused of having the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard prepare reports and announcement materials to fabricate the 'defection by crossing the border' narrative until October 2020, and distributing such false materials to overseas diplomatic missions and related ministries at the National Security Office level (forgery and use of false official documents).

Former Commissioner Kim, following Seo's instructions, distributed false announcement materials regarding the search and the possibility of defection by crossing the border, and when the bereaved family requested the disclosure of the 'tidal prediction analysis report' at the time of Lee's death, he prepared and delivered an information disclosure decision notice stating 'no data exists' (forgery and use of false official documents, defamation by false facts, defamation of the deceased), and was indicted.

Seo denies the charges, stating that he never attempted to conceal the shooting incident. He claims that the judgment of voluntary defection by crossing the border was a legitimate policy decision made by synthesizing related intelligence within a limited time.

The prosecution excluded the charge that Seo ordered related ministries to delete intelligence related to the shooting from the current indictment and plans to investigate it additionally in the future. The prosecution is expected to summon former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won soon to investigate allegations of intelligence deletion and alteration, and will make a final decision on whether to indict him and former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook.