Trial begins for top Moon officials regarding death of fisheries employee

Politics

Published: 24 Mar. 2023, 14:51

Trial begins for top Moon officials regarding death of fisheries employee

Former head of the National Intelligence Service Park Jie-won, center, lunged by Lee Rae-jin, the brother of the fisheries ministry employee, who was killed by North Koreans in 2020, in front of the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on Friday. The trial against Park for conspiring against the deceased public servant started on the same day that commemorates those that died defending the Yellow Sea in numerous provocation by North Koreans. [YONHAP]

The first trial of the top intelligence and security officials from the Moon Jae-in government began Friday over the death of a South Korean public employee who drifted into North Korean waters.

The trial took place on West Sea Defense Day, which was first designated in 2016 to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives to defend against military provocations by North Korea, in the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong in 2002, the sinking of the Cheonan warship in 2010 and the shelling of Yeongpyeong Island in 2010.

Former Blue House national security adviser Suh Hoon, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Chief Park Jie-won and Defense Minister Suh Wook appeared at the Seoul Central District Court where they defended themselves against allegations that they had tampered with and manipulated documents in order to make it look like a South Korean fisheries official was attempting to defect to North Korea.

The three officials are accused of violating the national intelligence regulation, abusing authority and obstructing another’s rights.

None of the defendants made a comment when entering the court but were faced with strong protests from the fisheries official's family.

The brother of the deceased lunged at the former NIS chief Park upon his arrival at the court while demanding an apology.

“How dare you show up?” Lee shouted during a brief scuffle with Park in front of the court.

The case involved Ocean and Fisheries Ministry official Lee Dae-jun, who fell off a ship and into the water while on duty near Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 22, 2020.

Lee drifted 38 kilometers (23.6 miles) into North Korean territory where he was shot to death and his body was burned.

The Moon government at the time had said Lee was trying to defect to North Korea due to personal problems including huge gambling debt and marital problems as he and his wife had divorced four months prior.

The family denied such accusations.

Instead, the Moon government was accused of deleting and tampering with important evidence and framing the former South Korean government employee as having defected so as to not escalate tensions with North Korea, especially as the murder of Lee happened three hours ahead of President Moon’s keynote speech at the United Nation’s General Assembly, where he was calling for an end to the war between the two Koreas and for the peninsula's complete denuclearization and permanent peace.

The defendants argued that there were no orders to delete key information.

Former national security adviser Suh Hoon and NIS Chief Park Jie-won were also indicted on charges of forced repatriation of North Koreans in 2019.

The two North Koreans who were picked up by the South Korean navy on Nov. 2, 2019, were sent across the border five days after.

The Moon government did not disclose the repatriation until a text message from a Joint Security Area officer sent to a Blue House official reporting the return of the two North Koreans appeared in a reporter’s photo during a National Assembly Budget and Accounts Committee hearing on Nov. 7.

The Moon government claimed that the two North Koreans were wanted for murdering 16 crew members.

It was later revealed that the two North Koreans had expressed their intension to defect.

The prosecutors’ office has accused the Moon administration’s intelligence official of abusing of their power and denying the two North Koreans' their constitutional rights to a fair trial.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]