Presidential Archives raided over fishermen and Wolsong

Investigators from the state prosecution service enter the Presidential Archives in Sejong special administrative city on Friday during their raid. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors raided the Presidential Archives on Friday as they sought information for two investigations being conducted into actions taken by the Moon Jae-in administration.

The move by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to send investigators to view documents held by the archives, located in the special administrative city of Sejong, represents a significant escalation of ongoing probes into the Moon administration's decisions to repatriate two North Korean fishermen who crossed into the South's territorial waters on Nov. 7, 2019 and to close the Wolsong-1 Nuclear Power Plant in December 2019.

Documents held by the Presidential Archives are normally sealed for 15 years. Viewing its records requires a search warrant issued by a high court, as opposed to a warrant approved a regional district court in most other raids.

As such, warrant requests for raids on the Presidential Archives are usually subject to a higher level of scrutiny.

According to prosecution service insiders who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity, the raids are aimed at clarifying the roles of senior officials in the Moon administration, such as former Blue House Chief of Staff Noh Young-min and former National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, in the government's decision to forcibly repatriate the two North Koreans, who were accused of murdering 16 fellow crew members aboard their vessel, without conducting a full and fair investigation into their guilt.

Videos and photos released last month showing one of the fishermen dragging his feet and resisting his return to the North at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom have sparked outrage from defectors and human rights groups.

According to government officials, the decision to repatriate the pair was made at a Nov. 4 Blue House meeting presided over by Noh — just two days after the pair was captured by the South Korean Navy in the East Sea.

Justice Ministry sources have recently claimed that the Blue House requested a legal review of the repatriation decision on Nov. 7, 2019, the same day they were due to be handed over to North Korean officials at Panmunjom.

Their repatriation went ahead despite the Justice Ministry delivering a report that the administration's decision lacked legal justification.

Another probe by prosecutors is also looking into whether the Moon administration influenced the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power's decision to shutter the Wolsong I nuclear power plant reactor three years before its scheduled closure in 2022.

The Wolsong I reactor, which started its trial run in November 1982 and commercial operation in April 1983, stopped operating on Nov. 20, 2012, as its designed 30-year lifespan expired. The Park Geun-hye administration decided in 2015 to spend 700 billion won ($616 million) to extend its lifespan through November 2022. The reactor subsequently resumed operation.

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power abruptly reversed the plan in June 2018, prompting speculation from opposition politicians that it made a political decision to accommodate Moon's nuclear phaseout policy.

In a report issued in October 2020, the Board of Audit and Inspection said that Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power decided to shut the reactor based on a faulty assessment that "unreasonably devalued" the economic advantage of keeping it running.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]