Prosecutors indicted three people, including former Incheon Korea Coast Guard chief Lee Gwang-jin, who is suspected of trying to cover up negligence after the line-of-duty death of Korea Coast Guard officer the late Lee Jae-seok, 34.
The Incheon District Prosecutors Office's investigation team on the Korea Coast Guard line-of-duty death case said on the 31st that it detained and indicted former Yeongheung Police Substation Head of Team, Senior Inspector A, on charges including occupational negligence resulting in death, dereliction of duty, and falsification of official electronic records.
Prosecutors also indicted without detention the former Incheon Korea Coast Guard chief and the former head of the Yeongheung Police Substation on charges including abuse of authority to interfere with the exercise of rights and coercion.
Senior Inspector A is suspected of causing Lee's death by failing to follow Korea Coast Guard regulations, including two-person dispatch, on the 11th of last month. He was found to have given a six-hour break, longer than allowed by regulations at the time, and sent Lee out alone when the minimum staffing level was not met. Prosecutors said Senior Inspector A neither reported to the situation room nor promptly deployed additional rescue personnel at the time of the accident, and also did not share Lee's location information.
The former Incheon Korea Coast Guard chief and the former head of the Yeongheung Police Substation are suspected of ordering Yeongheung substation officers on the day of the accident to keep silent to the media and others outside about Korea Coast Guard negligence. They was found to have threatened Lee's fellow officers with disadvantages if they did not comply.
Prosecutors also said the former head of the Yeongheung Police Substation and Senior Inspector A sent only two officers to rescue Lee but entered data in the field operations portal system as if four officers were dispatched, and falsely recorded that they had not violated the break-time rule.
A prosecution official said, "Based on objective evidence, reconstructing the actions taken on the day of the incident showed there were several opportunities to save Lee," and added, "Even so, Senior Inspector A's poor judgment and inadequate response accumulated and missed the golden time."
Lee, a senior inspector, responded alone at about 2:07 a.m. on the 11th of last month after a report that "someone is sitting on the mudflat." After confirming a Chinese national in his 70s stranded on the mudflat, Lee handed over a life jacket and attempted a rescue, but was swept away by the incoming tide and went missing at about 3:27 a.m., about an hour later. Lee was later found dead at about 9:41 a.m., about six hours afterward.