Board of Audit and Inspection Announces Audit Results on 'West Sea Official Killing Incident'
National Crisis Management Center Chief Expected 'Closure' and Left Early
Security Office Chief and First Deputy Also Left During Lee's North Korea Drift
Gambling, Debt, Divorce Used as Sole Basis to Fabricate 'Defection Motive'
In September 2020, during the occurrence of the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident,' an audit revealed that the Moon Jae-in administration deleted data or unfairly announced the 'voluntary defection to North Korea' to conceal the incident. Notably, the National Security Office chief and first deputy left work even while Lee Dae-jun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official killed by North Korean forces, was drifting at sea, and the Ministry of National Defense was found to have deleted related data.
On the 7th, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced these audit results targeting nine agencies including the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard to clarify the objective and substantive truth of the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident' and resolve public suspicions. This action followed the investigation results announced in June last year by the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard, which reversed the statements made during the Moon administration and stated that no evidence was found to confirm Lee's defection to North Korea.
Seo Hoon, Director of the National Security Office during the Moon Jae-in administration. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Previously, Lee went missing in the early morning of September 21, 2020, 2.2 km south of Soyeonpyeongdo Island. The next day around 15:30, he was found by a North Korean vessel near Guwolbong, Gangryeong County, South Hwanghae Province, North Korea, 27 km from the missing location, but was left drifting for a long time without rescue. Later, around 20:50, he was found again near Deungsanggot, 38 km from the missing point, but was shot dead by North Korean soldiers a few hours later, and his body was incinerated.
The audit revealed that the National Security Office, the control tower for national crisis management, received a report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff around 17:18 on the day of the incident that Lee was found in North Korean waters but did not relay the crisis situation to the Ministry of Unification nor hold the 'initial situation assessment meeting' to review response directions.
In particular, during this process, the head of the National Crisis Management Center judged that if North Korea rescued Lee, only a situation closure report was necessary, and around 19:30, then National Security Office chief Suh Hoon and first deputy Seo Joo-seok left work earlier. At that time, Lee had been drifting at sea for about 38 hours after going missing, in a life-threatening state, and North Korea was leaving him unattended without rescue for a long time. Ministry of Unification director A also, after receiving discovery information from the National Intelligence Service around 18:00, understood through multiple calls that Lee's life and safety were threatened but did not report to the minister or vice minister. A left work around 22:15 without further efforts to confirm rescue or survival.
It was also confirmed that the Coast Guard conducted searches centered only around the initial missing point as if Lee had not been found in North Korean waters. This was because, in a situation requiring security, if search activities ended, they could not explain the reasons to the media and others.
A large amount of related data was also found to have been deleted. The Ministry of National Defense, after the National Security Office issued a 'security maintenance' directive regarding the killing and incineration of the West Sea public official at a related ministers' meeting held a day after the incident, instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to delete related secret data on the same day. Accordingly, the Joint Chiefs summoned the MIMS (Military Information Management System) operator to the office and deleted 60 military intelligence reports stored in MIMS.
They also fabricated a report concluding that Lee voluntarily defected to North Korea without basis. After concluding on the 23rd that Lee's defection was highly likely, the National Security Office and Ministry of National Defense instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare an intelligence analysis report on voluntary defection and report it at the related ministers' meeting. The Joint Chiefs based the report on four grounds (▲wearing a life jacket alone unlike other crew members ▲shoes found in a CCTV blind spot on Mugunghwa 10 ▲relying on small floating objects when found in North Korean waters ▲responding that he defected), but these were later confirmed to be difficult to consider as evidence in subsequent investigations.
There were also indications of fabricating unconfirmed motives for defection. The Coast Guard collected verbal expert opinions on Lee's psychological state at the time to establish grounds for defection, providing only information such as gambling, debt, and divorce, and asked about the possibility of defection. In this process, only some experts' answers were arbitrarily pieced together and announced that 'it is judged that he defected to escape reality due to a mental panic state.' Additionally, although the Ministry of National Defense judged that North Korean forces killed Lee and incinerated his body, under the National Security Office's policy, they changed the judgment to 'uncertain incineration,' and the National Intelligence Service analyzed it as 'body incineration' but revised the judgment to 'floating object incineration' despite no new evidence.
Accordingly, the Board of Audit and Inspection issued disciplinary actions, warnings, and personnel notifications to 13 related personnel from three agencies including the Ministry of National Defense who handled related tasks unlawfully and improperly. Six agencies including the National Security Office were warned to thoroughly manage related tasks in the future. Previously, in October last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection requested investigations by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office for a total of 20 people from five agencies including the National Security Office.
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