Key security-line officials from the Moon Jae-in administration, who were put on trial on charges of trying to cover up the shooting death of a civil servant in the West Sea in September 2020, were all acquitted in the first trial. It is the court's decision nearly three years after they were indicted at the end of 2022.
The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 25 (Presiding Judge Jee Kui-youn) on the 26th acquitted former Office of National Security chief Suh Hoon, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Gee-won (former National Intelligence Service director), former Minister of National Defense Suh Wook, former Korea Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Hong-hee, and former National Intelligence Service chief of staff Noh Eun-chae. The court did not accept any of the prosecution's allegations.
Prosecutors argued that on Sept. 22, 2020, former Deputy Minister Suh intentionally concealed the fact that Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official Lee Dae-jun was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers, and ordered the incident to be distorted and announced as a "voluntary defection to the North." In December 2022, prosecutors sent five people from the Moon Jae-in administration's security line to trial.
Prosecutors contended that former Deputy Minister Suh ordered a cover-up to avoid responsibility for rescue and to deflect public criticism surrounding the then president's video address calling for inter-Korean reconciliation and an end-of-war declaration. To give the impression of a "voluntary defection to the North," they said, there were indications he ordered the distribution of false press releases that claimed, among other things, that the official was found in North Korea with only his shoes taken off, or that he had been living alone in Mokpo due to family issues. Prosecutors also cited as grounds that former Deputy Minister Suh dismissed the objections of some secretaries who argued for disclosing the incident.
On that basis, at sentencing arguments prosecutors sought four years in prison for former Deputy Minister Suh; two years in prison and two years of qualification suspension for lawmaker Park; three years in prison for former Minister Suh; three years in prison for former Commissioner Kim; and one year in prison and one year of qualification suspension for former Deputy Minister Noh.
The court found it difficult to recognize illegality in the reporting procedures at the time. It determined that the missing-person report and intelligence dissemination, the responses by the Office of National Security and the Ministry of National Defense and the National Intelligence Service, and the Korea Coast Guard's investigation and announcement proceeded according to formal systems and procedures and were mostly documented, making it insufficient to conclude there were unlawful orders or violations of statutes. It also said the deletion on the computer network could largely be seen as a measure to prevent further spread after sensitive intelligence had been disseminated generally without distribution limits and was belatedly recognized, and it was hard to conclude the deletion was intended to "make it as if it never existed." The court also noted indications that the original information of the deleted data or reports was preserved as is.
Substantively, the court also found the prosecution's proof of falsity lacking. It said the government's statements—"there is a possibility of defection to the North" and "we assess it as defection to the North"—were less "definitive facts" than provisional judgments based on limited information, and were strongly expressions of opinion, making it hard to determine falsity. The prosecution's claims, from a retrospective perspective, were closer to criticism that "the grounds were not checked more meticulously" or "were hasty," and the court found a lack of objective evidence that the defendants, while aware of false or insufficient grounds, induced a conclusion in a particular direction.
The court also said the intent to conceal the shooting death or to drive a narrative of defection to the North was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It cited as grounds the fact that there was a presidential order to "verify the facts and disclose them as they are," that a meeting including the unification minister was convened and information was shared with the Korea Coast Guard and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), and that concealment was realistically difficult because many were already aware. It added that the Coast Guard's investigation appeared to have proceeded according to procedures and principles, with investigation reports accumulated over a considerable period.
For each individual count, the court also found not guilty across the board on charges comprising abuse of authority, damage to public electronic records, violation of the National Intelligence Service Act, falsification and use of official documents, defamation, and false replies related to information disclosure.
After the verdict, lawmaker Park met with reporters and said, "Yoon Suk-yeol, who carried out a political scheme to remove Park Gee-won, was dismissed and went to prison," adding, "I will work harder to reform so that the prosecution and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) do not become political like this going forward."
Former Deputy Minister Suh issued a statement saying, "This is a political case produced by the lawlessness and self-righteousness of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration," and, "Even though many pieces of evidence that contradicted the indictment and were not known during the investigation emerged during trial, it is regrettable whether the prosecution handled this case fairly with an impartial stance in line with the 'duty of objectivity.'"
By contrast, the slain civil servant's older brother, Lee Rae-jin, said, "I find it hard to accept today's ruling and have some questions, and I think it was a rather preposterous judgment," adding, "(As the administration changed,) the investigation was halted midway, and I think in that process everything was distorted and massaged."