On the 2nd, the last day of the prosecution's appeal deadline in the "West Sea government worker killing" case, the bereaved family plans to send a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump saying that the government's pressure to forgo an appeal is another act of state violence and a clear human rights violation.
Lee Rae-jin, the elder brother of the late Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official Lee Dae-jun, and their legal representative, attorney Kim Ki-yoon, said in a letter released on the 2nd that the killing of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official in the West Sea on Sept. 22, 2020, has been subjected to attempts to flip the same facts to being a defection to the North, then not a defection, and then a defection again, depending on the political orientation of the administration, and that the government at the time labeled the victim a voluntary defector to avoid responsibility, while allegations have been continuously raised that there were fabrication and distortion in the investigation and announcement processes by the Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense.
They added that with key defendants recently acquitted in the first trial, it has become a situation in which no one is held responsible, and that Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae is challenging the indictments themselves and calling for a special counsel, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok is characterizing the indictments in the case as fabricated and suggesting the prosecution ought to forgo an appeal, and the president is also saying those prosecutors who filed the case should be held accountable.
The bereaved family said that all these remarks are heading not toward establishing responsibility for the victim's death and the state's failure to rescue, but toward protecting the defendants and nullifying the indictments, adding that just as President Trump has taken deep interest in human rights violations in South Africa, the international community's close attention is also needed to the attempts at human rights violations against the bereaved family and distortions of the truth under the current Lee Jae-myung administration.
Below is the full text of the letter released by the bereaved family.
To President Trump
We who write this letter are Lee Rae-jin, the elder brother of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official who was shot to death and burned by North Korean soldiers, and attorney Kim Ki-yoon, who has been assisting the bereaved family for more than six years.
During your tenure, on Sept. 22, 2020, near Yeonpyeong Island north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea of Korea, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official was shot to death and his body burned by North Korean soldiers.
At the time, senior officials in the Moon Jae-in administration made no attempt to rescue the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official until the moment North Korean soldiers killed him. As a result, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, who had children in 11th grade and 1st grade in elementary school, was shot to death and burned by North Korean soldiers in a tragic incident.
Afterward, the Moon Jae-in administration announced that the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official had defected to the North, but in June 2022, after a change in government, the Korean government officially announced that it was not a defection. Since the Lee Jae-myung administration took power, attempts have been made again to define it as a defection.
In that process, the bereaved family has endured not only the sorrow of losing a loved one but also repeated suffering inflicted by the state.
Although the Moon Jae-in administration recognized through SI intelligence the entire sequence in which the victim was found in North Korean waters, dragged around, shot to death, and his body burned, it took no steps to rescue or repatriate him. Nonetheless, the government at the time, to evade responsibility, branded the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, the victim, as a voluntary defector, and allegations have been continuously raised that there was fabrication and distortion in the investigation and announcement processes by the Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense.
Even though the bereaved family filed a lawsuit for information disclosure and won in the first trial to uncover the truth, the Moon Jae-in administration designated the materials as presidential records, sealing them off and blocking access to the truth. After the change in government, an investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection revealed substantial indications of fabrication and cover-up during the Moon Jae-in administration, but key information still has not been disclosed on the grounds that it is military classified information.
Recently, as major defendants who were senior officials at the time in connection with this case were acquitted in the first trial, there is effectively no one held responsible for this incident. Even so, the current Lee Jae-myung administration's president, prime minister, and the ruling party leader are making remarks centered on the defendants, who were senior officials in the Moon Jae-in administration, not on the victim, further aggravating the bereaved family's pain.
Jung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is challenging the indictments themselves related to the West Sea murdered official case and calling for a special counsel, and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok is labeling the indictments in the case as fabricated indictments and saying it is only natural for the prosecution to forgo an appeal.
President Lee Jae-myung has also called it a strange indictment and has stated that those prosecutors who brought the case should be held accountable.
All these remarks pressure the prosecution to forgo an appeal not to establish responsibility for the victim's death and the state's failure to rescue, but to protect the defendants, who were senior officials in the Moon Jae-in administration, and to prevent their punishment. This pressure to abandon an appeal constitutes another act of state violence against the bereaved family and is a clear human rights violation.
On Sept. 17, 2022, Lee Rae-jin, the bereaved brother of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, traveled to the United States to meet Otto Warmbier's mother and father to share their experiences as victims and discuss solidarity to hold North Korea accountable, and also visited the U.S. Department of State and North Korea's U.N. mission.
Regarding the West Sea murdered official case, we are eager to travel to the United States to meet President Trump together with the Warmbier family, and we are ready to meet at any time.
Just as President Trump has taken deep interest in human rights violations in South Africa, the international community's close attention is needed to the attempts at human rights violations and distortions of the truth being inflicted on the bereaved family of the West Sea murdered official under the current Lee Jae-myung administration.
This case is not a mere domestic political issue but a grave human rights matter that asks how the state treated the life and dignity of its own citizens. Believing it is difficult to expect the truth to be established and responsibility to be pursued under the current Lee Jae-myung administration, we appeal to the international community and send this letter to President Trump.
Jan. 2, 2026
Elder brother of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, Lee Rae-jin
Attorney Kim Ki-yoon