Court: "Insufficient evidence to acknowledge an attempt to frame the incident as defection to North Korea"
Key security officials from the Moon Jae-in administration who were prosecuted on charges of attempting to cover up the 'West Sea government official shooting incident' in September 2020 were all acquitted in the first trial.
Seo Hoon, former Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House (from left), Park Jiwon, former Director of the National Intelligence Service, Seo Wook, former Minister of National Defense. Yonhap News
The Criminal Agreement Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Ji Guyon) on the 26th acquitted Suh Hoon, former Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House; Park Ji-won, former Director of the National Intelligence Service; Seo Wook, former Minister of National Defense; Kim Honghee, former Commissioner General of the Korea Coast Guard; and Noh Eunchae, former Chief of Staff to the Director of the National Intelligence Service, of all charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.
The court determined that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges brought by the prosecution. The court stated, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it is insufficient to acknowledge that there was an attempt to frame the incident as a defection to North Korea," and added, "It is difficult to conclude that the charges have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the extent that the defendants can be held criminally liable."
The West Sea government official shooting incident refers to the killing of Lee Daejun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, by North Korean soldiers in the West Sea in September 2020. The case was revisited in June 2022 after a change in administration, when the Board of Audit and Inspection launched an investigation. At that time, the Board of Audit and Inspection requested a prosecution investigation, and the National Intelligence Service also filed complaints against Park Ji-won and others. The prosecution indicted those involved in December 2022.
Former National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, who was prosecuted on charges of attempting to cover up the shooting incident involving a government official in the West Sea in 2020, is responding to reporters after being acquitted at the sentencing trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 26th. Photo by Yonhap News
Former Director Suh was accused of instructing a Joint Chiefs of Staff official and former Commissioner General Kim at a meeting of relevant ministers around 1 a.m. on September 23, 2020, the day after Lee was killed, to "maintain security" in order to conceal the incident. Former Commissioner General Kim was prosecuted for distributing false information regarding the possibility of defection to North Korea in accordance with these instructions.
Former Director Park, former Minister Seo, and former Chief of Staff Noh were also prosecuted on charges of agreeing to the "maintain security" policy and instructing National Intelligence Service and Ministry of National Defense staff to delete related intelligence and documents.
Previously, at the final hearing, the prosecution requested that the court sentence former Director Suh to four years in prison; former Director Park to two years in prison and two years of disqualification; and former Minister Seo to three years in prison.
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